Faces of The Moon
by Cozziellamas
Summary: A new Warrior of prophecy comes to the Underland, she and her previously small pet rat, Gregor, and Luxa, go on a quest, and of course, fulfill a prophecy. Only if they fail, the creatures of the Underland will be annihilated. Finished!
1. Ayla, starting Chapter

**Hi there all you awesome Fanfic readers! This is my first Underland fic, so stick with me here. I haven't read the series in over a year, I just started, then finished, the first book this morning. **

**It may take me a bit to put a prophecy in here because I'm not too poetic, but I may have one in mind, so once again, stick with me. Thanks!**

***Abbess Aruba SkyArrow, Abbess and Recorder of Redwall Abbey. ***

"Mom! Mom!" called a girl right around fourteen.

"What? What?" her mother, a stocky strait haired woman answered.

"Do you know where Fuzz-Butt went? I need to feed him," she said, referring to a kitten they had found several days back.

"Last I saw the heathen, he was playing with Trashcat,"

"Which was..?" the girl asked winding a lock of her curly brown-blond hair into a little ringlet.

"In the hall, by your room. While you're down that way, could you bring me the tissues? There's so much pollen in the air I've got a runny nose,"

"Sure thing, Mom," she said, walking down the hallway of their tiny house. She was pretty, not the most drop-dead-gorgeous girl there ever was, but she was attractive. Her curly brownish hair came down to her shoulders, it was very fuzzy at the bottem, but was more wavy at the top. A pair of silver hoop earrings hung in both earlobes. She wore a pair of long blue jeans, a black t-shirt with a silver fake gemstone crown on it, and a pair of white sneakers. Her eyes were, perhaps, the most stunning feature on her zitless face. Normal colors would look boring on her, no, blue, green, brown, they would never do, so what color were her eyes? A perfect shade of light rose. It had been one of the oddest eye colors of the year, she had been on the news a few times due to it.

She found the orange kitten in the hall, sleeping on a sock. "Oh, my little Cliff Hanger," she thought, reaching down for him. Cliff mewed as he was pulled from sleep and brought to the kitchen. A tiny bottle sat on the counter, white liquid filled it halfway. The girl sat in a wooden chair, settled the kitten in her lap, and gave him the bottle, holding it for the tiny tom kitten. When he was done, she set him on the floor, and rinsed out the bottle.

Since she was seven, they had lived in a tiny house in the outskirts of New York. Woodlands surrounded their house. Perfect for going out, and letting ones imagination run ramped. The house only had two bedrooms, and one bathroom. Her room was the size of a sardine can.

She walked down the hallway, and grabbed a sword-like object off the dryer, and buckled it, and its sheath, to her belt. Many weapons sat in her belt, a three inch Colt knife, complete with a black sheath, a leather sling she had made herself, and a throwing dagger. Also a bag made out of denim from a pair of jeans, and a small red bag made out of an old shirt were tied to the back. One had food she had made herself, and another had first-aid things in it.

"Hey Mom, I'm goin' out in the woods! I'll be back when ever, okay?" she said.

"Be back soon, I don't want you out in the dark too long. And don't go down to the old mine, I know you do, so don't! I love you Ayla" she said.

"Love you too Mom, don't worry, when have I ever gone down there?" Ayla teased, slipping on an old cloak she had made out of a lot of old shirts.

Once out of the house, she made a beeline for the mine. "Do you think she'll figure it out, Zeva?" Ayla asked a small lump in her cloak pocket. A black and white rat poked it's head out of the pocket, it twitched it's ears, and made a small huffing noise.

"Really, you think she'll find out that fast?" she asked.

Zeva ground her teeth a little, and twitched her whiskers once, and her ears twice.

"Well, then we'd better get a-rollin'" Ayla said, picking up the pace.

The moon was high and full by the time they reached the abandoned mine, casting shadows about the area as a lone figure walked up. Ayla had found the place years ago, and had fallen in love with it. She had built a small hut in the mouth, and went looking for gems and metals every day in it. When she reached the hut, she lit a small fire, and let Zeva out of her pocket. The young rat never wandered far, always staying near her person. After they had rested, Ayla loaded Zeva back in her pocket, then headed into the mine, flashlight in hand.

"How far do y'think we'll get ?" Ayla said, half to herself.

"Twice as much as half of it," Zeva answered through a sign language of twitching and gestures. Ayla laughed, this rat had the funniest sense of humor. After an hour, they reached the end of the mine, and Ayla was puzzling about it. "Shouldn't it be longer?" she thought, the peering at the wall in the gloomy light.

"Come on, lets get back to the hut, it's getting too cold out here," she said. Zeva bounded over to her, and climbed up her leg and into her pocket.

Ayla sat on a log bench, munching a loaf of garlic cheese bread she had made herself. Zeva ate a smaller version of the bread. She still was unhappy. "The mine is just too short," she thought, gnawing on a tough piece of bread. The sound of falling rocks caused her to look to the mine. What was that? She thought she saw a pair of eyes. "No, it can't be. There are no big predators up here… are there?"

"Hey, did you see that?"

"See what?" Zeva tilted her head, "I saw nothing, but I hear something," she said, "Look!" she said, giving a shrill scream of alarm. Ayla turned just in time to see a brown streak hurtling towards her.

"Run!" she yelled to Zeva, although the rat had already fled.

"The prophecy of The Moon?" Luxa asked.

"Yes. Though, it is more of a poem than a prophecy," Vikus said, stroking his silver beard.

"And you think there is another Warrior, that is an Overlander?"

"That is what I think, yes,"

"Where will we find this Overlander?" Luxa sounded doubtful.

"At the Moon Mine Gateway,"

"But that is seven days travel!"

"Yes, and we are going today, go and pack your clothes, and whatever you need, we leave shortly,"

"Yes, Vikus," Luxa nodded, then walked away.

"Mareth, send for Aurora, and Euripides, please," Vikus nodded to the one legged Underlander.

"As you say, Vikus," he said, walking off to find the fliers.

"This will be a long trip,"

In seven days time, Vikus and Luxa were almost at the gateway. The mineshaft had been discovered months before in an expedition to the surface. As they flew, Euripides and Aurora chattered back and forth in high pitched squeaks neither of the two humans could hear, Luxa and Vikus were silent, watching the unknown territory they flew through.

"Be that the gateway?" Luxa asked, looking at a hole in the side of the massive cavern.

"Yes, it is. I was sure we sealed it after it was found," the old man frowned at the narrow shaft of moonlight piercing the darkness. When they landed on a shelf of rock outside of the hole, Vikus explored the gap in the rock.

"Something or someone must have found and opened it, bu-" he was interrupted by a small sobbing noise outside of the hole. He looked to Luxa, the young girl shrugged. Slowley the two crept into the hole, and out into the moonlight. Three figures sat there. Two were rats, one dead, and a human. The sobbing came from the human, it was female, and very distressed.

"W-what was that? I would say it was a pack rat, b-but it's huge! Oh, God, it almost got me Zeva! A-and you! You're huge! What happened? I'm really confused now," the girl said, looking up at the rat.

"Be she the Warrior Overlander?" whispered Luxa, "She looks a bit weak,"

"So did Gregor. And look how he turned out," he said. The rat whirled, "Someone is here," it spoke. The girl flew into action, grabbing a dirk from her left hip with her right hand, she held it defensively, "Who goes there?" she said calmly.

"Greetings, Overlander, I am Vikus, and this is Luxa, soon to be queen," he said stepping into the light.

"Greetings, Overlander, I am Vikus, and this is Luxa, soon to be queen," an old man stepped into the moonlight, a young girl, about Ayla's age followed. Both were pale, she wasn't sure if it was the moonlight or what.

"Yeah, that's great. What do you want?" she asked, trying not to look like she had been attacked by a massive rat, though she couldn't help favoring her right leg.

"You are injured, you will not be able to make it home. I assume the rat was not large earlier?" he asked.

"What's it to you if I'm hurt? I have first aid with me,"

"It won't matter, the dead rat was clearly diseased, you will need our healers, also, there is a prophecy you need to fulfill," the girl, Luxa said.

"Riiight, I believe this is where I start backing away. Slowly," Ayla said, backing away, only to be stopped by a tail.

"Ayla, I think they're serious, I think we should go with them," Zeva said.

"But Mommy told me to never go with strangers!" Ayla said, but was rewarded with Zeva narrowing her eyes, "Oh, fine, I'll go!" she pouted, "But you're coming with me, Ms, NCIS," she said.

"Good. Luxa, do you think you can help, Ayla was it, onto one of the fliers?" Vikus asked.

"She will ride on Aurora, she is not strong enough to carry the rat," she confirmed.

Luxa helped Ayla into the hole and onto Aurora.

"She's beautiful," commented Ayla.

"Thank you, Overlander," the bat purred. Of coarse the bat talked. Ayla's leg throbbed as Zeva was helped onto Euripides, she had lost some blood, but she had killed the rat before any real damage could be done.

"How long will it take to get back to your city?" Ayla asked though she barley heard herself, her leg felt like it was on fire by now.

"Four days, perhaps three," he said, Luxa gave him a quizzical look, "It took us seven days to get here, how will it take us only four to return?" she asked.

"Could you not feel the drag of the currents? It was what made the trip so long, when we ride out, the currents will help us back, instead of holding us," he said. By now, Ayla couldn't even concentrate on words being spoken. Luxa looked over to her as they took to the air, then rummaged through a pack until she found a yellow glass bottle, she handed it to her, "Here, this will take away the pain," she said, "Take a small swallow," she instructed. Ayla nodded her thanks, when she was done, the made a face due to the bitterness of the medicine, then gave the bottle back. Vikus frowned at her. The medicine in the yellow bottle was for numbing, but it also induced sleep. A small swallow like that would keep her asleep for a few days. Luxa shrugged at him, and continued looking about the cavern.

**Alrighty then! If you're reading this, then that means you made it through the first chapter! Hooray! I hope it wasn't too boring, I try to keep things interesting… Please Review, and tell me how you like this! **

**Next Chapter: Ayla learns more about the prophecy, and another Overlander shows up. She also finds her destiny, will she take up the mantle of a Warrior? Find out on the next installment of: Faces of the Moon.**


	2. Gregor Chapter

**Wassup? I'm here to write the next chapter, then go and sleep… mmm sleep… I want all you peoples to know that I now only update on Wednesdays or Thursdays, due to the fact I have no timeline, whatsoever. I may not post next Wednesday because I need a bit more time to rack mah brain things, and get more of a plot rollin'.**

Gregor sat on their couch, watching Boots and Lizzie play outside through the window. Ever since they had moved to Virginia, he had been depressed, and broody. His mother had been ecstatic when they bought the farm house. Gregor was, less then ecstatic. It had two floors, a steep narrow stairway with a creepy passage leading into the playroom halfway up, two bathrooms, three bedrooms and the playroom, plus the large living room, and kitchen. Gregor had taken the smallest of the two upstair bedrooms. At some point, someone had painted the room a grassy green color, with deer and horses eating and running across the surface. Repaint. Definitely repaint. The reason why was because the window faced the long dirt road of a driveway. Yep, still had the instinct of a war veteran, a rager. Also, since Boots and Lizzie needed to share a room, they needed the bigger one.

The house gave him the heeby jeebies. Once he and Lizzie had heard women yelling upstairs, and the downstairs door opened and slammed, then the distinct sound of a knife being drawn from the woodblock, the door opened, slammed again, then there was a scream, a horrible scream. He had heard this kind many times in the Underland. When they investigated, they found the knife, stuck in the floorboards in the playroom floor, when they yanked it out, it had something red on the tip. No one went into the playroom after that, even Boots didn't like it, and that's saying something.

On their little farm, they had goats and horses, and a pig. Boots had named every one of them. Bill, Merry, Cola, and Rikkie were the goats, Temp, Tick, Dill, and Pickle were the horses, Boots's favorites were Temp and Tick. And the fat pig was Gorger. They had a few chickens and a rooster everyone hated, Lizzie had named him Henry. Henry was going to be renamed Dinner very soon.

"Gregor, are you going to sit there and be broody all day, or are you going to go help your father with the swing set?" his mother asked, walking through their bright yellow front door.

"Mph, I suppose I could," he answered, not really meaning it though.

"Well, either you can, or you can't, but you need to move, or do something, you're starting to collect dust sitting there all day," she scolded. Gregor got up and walked out of the house, shutting the door behind him. He knew where he wanted to go, well there were two places he could go, but it would take a lot of walking for the one place. He would stick with where he was going. Gregor stepped off the porch, and began wandering down a path he used every now and then to find his hideaway.

An old oak stood behind their house in an abandoned field, it was out of view, perfect for hiding in. It was a true father of the forest. Its trunk had been hollowed out somehow a very long time ago, and the tree had grown around the hollow, almost sealing it in.

When Gregor had been wandering one day he came across it, and found a small opening, perfect for himself to squeeze through. He had widened the inside space until he could stretch himself in it. He could lay down in any direction, and still have three to four feet of space leftover. After widening it, he found a hole in the roof, ( he found out the hard way when he was forced to take refuge in it during a hailstorm) and could climb through it to a massive top branch, wide enough for him to sit on. He put a canopy over it so he could sit in the tree top even when it rained. After a bit of hard work, he built walls around it, and put a window on the wall. One day he climbed out on the farther limbs, and cut away the branches so he could see through his window.

Gregor entered his little home away from home, and plopped down on a shelf-bench he had carved out of the side of the oak, a few cushions sat about on it. He propped up his head with a hand, and went strait into his little La, La Land. He thought about Regalia, the Underland, the first prophecy, 'The Prophecy of Grey', Vikus, Ripred… Luxa… he closed his eyes. Then went about his little hovel, dusting things, making sure they were all clean, keeping himself occupied. On a little shelf near the door were a few Underland items, a torch, a catch cloth, a funny swirled stone, and a gold circlet. Often he thumbed this little trinket, thinking to himself of what could have been. He squeezed his eyes shut to keep the tears at bay.

He was startled by the sound of wings fluttering near the door. A small bat had entered the tree, it sat on the trinket shelf, black eyes staring intelligently at Gregor.

"Hey, there little guy. What d'you need?" he asked, standing to get a better look. The bat whistled shrilly, and dropped something on the ground. Gregor kneeled, picking up the object. It was a little note, rolled up in a cylinder, tied by a piece of red ribbon. He slid the ribbon off, and unfurled the note, it read:

_Dear Gregor,_

_We have dire need for you to came back to the Underland. A new prophecy has reared its ugly head to us, and it calls for the 'Dead Warrior, Come to Light' to help solve it. We have another Overlander we thought you might want to meet._

_Bring Boots if you wish, Temp is getting a bit 'antsy' as you say, to see her again. Please do come, I know we've said this before, but, the fate of the Underland depends on you, and the other Overlander's actions._

_With care,_

_Luxa_

Huh, what a shocker. They needed him _again _down there. Wait, what's this?

_P.S_

_The small flier carrying this note is your escort to a new gateway._

"Well, I guess there's no backing out of this," he thought "Listen," he said to the little brown bat, "I'll come back here in an hour or so with what I need, okay?" he told the bat, who just twittered, enjoying it's little perch, "Right, I'll go back, grab Boots, write a letter, get duct tape, flashlight, snacks, water…" he trailed off in his mind, continuing the list.

Once he got to the house his list was complete. Nobody was inside when he entered the bright yellow door. Perfect. He walked into the kitchen, and began rummaging through the junk drawer. There's the duct tape. He shut the drawer quietly, and walked into the dining room, next to the front door were several coat hooks. He took his camping backpack off one hook and shoved the duct tape in it. "Next on the list: Flashlight," he thought, going into a cabinet above the kitchen sink. Seven, flashlights lay scattered in the cabinet, Gregor chose five, a big D-cell, a two small LEDs, a tiny pink waterproof keychain, and a headlamp with three different colors, one of the settings had flashing on them. "Duct tape, flashlights, check, now lets see about the rest of my list…" Gregor continued to search the house for things he needed.

When Gregor finished packing everything in his backpack, he laced on a good pair of tennis shoes and headed out the door. He made it back to the tree, the bat was still there. "Hold on, I need to get my sister, Boots, can you wait a little longer?" he asked the bat, feeling a bit stupid. The bat twittered again, Gregor headed back to the house. He entered and stomped up the steep narrow stairs to his bedroom. His bed was pushed against one wall, a small bookshelf stood next to it, a large desk sat across from his bed, several sheets of notebook paper lay about in stacks. Gregor found a pen and began on a fresh piece of paper.

_Mom and Dad,_

_Once again the Underlanders need me for a new prophecy, it calls for the Warrior brought back to light, or something like that. I took everything I need, and Boots. Please _do not_ call the cops, I'll be back when I'm done down there._

_I love you guys,_

_Gregor_

Short, but simple to the point. There was a knock on his door, "Gregor, can I come in?" he sighed in relief, it was Lizzie, "Yeah, sure," he answered, Lizzie strode through the door looking worried,

"You're going down there, aren't you?" she said.

"Yeah, they need me _again_ a new prophecy they found, and they need me to come straiten things out," Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"Try not to get killed," she said bluntly. Gregor nodded.

"I'm taking Boots,"

"Okay, I'll go find her," she said leaving for the door. "Wait, I need you to give this note to Mom and Dad after we leave, when they start looking for us," he said, pushing the piece of paper into her hands. She pursed her lips, and headed out to do her task.

When Boots saw the little bat, she melted, "Ooh, bat!" she exclaimed, observing I from a safe distance, Ripred had taught her not all animals are nice.

"Yeah bat, he's gonna take us back under," Gregor said, Boots frowned, the little five year old could talk more fluently, and construct arguments that would lean towards her winning, she was a little bit of a con artist.

"Momma's not gonna be happy when she finds out, Gregor"

"I know Boots, but don't you want to see Temp?" he asked. Her smile lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Yes!" she almost squealed.

Uh, little bat, when are we leaving?" the bat, whom had been grooming it's fur looked up and flit out the door. Gregor grabbed his pack, and Boot's hand, and shuffled out.

The bat flew slowly, gliding on the cool air as the sun set. When it was dark it landed on Gregors shoulder, and twittered, though this time, it sounded like it was speaking.

"Warrior…. I can not speak too often….. or too long…. little talk…. I leave to hunt, you can…" the bat broke off, panting, then continued, "You can make fire and sleep, do whatever you want," it stopped.

"Um, could you tell me your name?" Gregor asked, he didn't want to call it, 'The Bat' or 'It' the whole trip. The bat hesitated, "My name? Shrilf be I, I be…. Shrilf," it said, it sounded more like a boys name, so it could be a he.

"Thanks, I think we'll eat and sleep," he said, but Shrilf was already gone.

**Might as well have a choir singing, 'Short chapters, short chapters, this author writes S.H.O.R.T chapters!" Yep, workin on getting everyone on board the crazy train. Hmm, didn't have Ayla in this chap because I wanted to figure out how to get Gregor to the Underland. Bah, I'll write about Ayla next chapter. I'm not posting again this week on Gregor-fics. **


	3. Ayla Chapter, The Prophecy

**I'm here, ready to type! I would like to personally thank Assassin Author for such nice reviews, thanks! Righty ho then, this chapter is going to be an Ayla chap,mostly about how she copes with the Underland.**

** Shoutouts:**

** Assassin Author( thanks for your reviews!)**

-o-

She lay on a bed. Nothing unusual about that, Ayla loved to sleep. But _where _ she lay on a bed was different. She was miles beneath the surface. She was wighing out what options she had. "Well, I could escape by going into this water way, they say it leads near one of the gateways. No, others probably tried that, and no doubt got killed. Next, scratch that. I could hijack a bat and get it to take me home. No, it would never agree to that, it would call all of it's buddies and have me thrown back in here," she thought, scowling unhappily.

When she had arrived, the medicine had worn off, so she was ever so angry with the situation. Then the moment they touched down, she was hauled away to the hospital to be treated for some weird disease she could only decribe as a for of rabies. The bite on her leg was very shallow, so there was no need for stiches. Thank the good Lord.

After they had finished treating her, they took all her weapons. The nerve! She had let them know what she thought about that. The moment she could walk around again, she was going to get her things back. Ayla had always felt naked without her weapons.

There was a tap on the outside of her room.

"Yeah," she called.

Zeva strode through the thick curtain, and almost ran to Ayla's bed. The two hadn't seen each other since Ayla was taken to the hospital.

"Ayla, I found you! Oh, those Underlanders, they kept me in a tiny room, and gave me numorus shots, they said I needed to be amune to the Underland rat diseases. I already have my rabies, why do I need more," she said in a huff, very much unhappy with the situation.

Ayla reached over and hugged her rat around the neck, burying her face in Zeva's fur.

"Ugh, same here, they kept me in this room, and took my dirk. I'm not impressed with their _hospitality_" her voice was muffled by the fur. She pulled her head out and flopped down on the pillow. "I think I'll be able to walk today, my leg doesn't hurt as much, and it stopped throbing this morning. Hmph, and this food, blah! It's nasty, then again, since when is hospital food good? I need real food, meat, hmm, meat, that sounds good," she frowned.

"Come on, Vikus, or whatever his name is, wants to meet you in a stone room thing," Zeva said.

"Sure thing, I hope this means I get my stuff back, they even took my hat!" she growled, "Wait, I need clothes, these are hospital clothes," Zeva nodded over to a pile of folded white cloth.

"I think those are clothes," Ayla pulled herself from the bed and hobbled over to the white cloth. Sure enough, they were clothes. Zeva exited while she dressed.

There was some sort of shirt that reminded her of a T-shirt, it would work, a pair of long pants, nothing like jeans, she scowled, and a few other necessary garments. When she finished, Ayla slipeed on a pair of braided straw-like sandles, and headed out the door curtain.

Zeva led her through many halls, a few stairs, and more halls. Every now and then, they would see a few Underlanders, whom stared at them as they passed.

They arrived at an oaken door. Ayla was impressed at it's massive size, trees must be hard to come by down here.

The old man Vikus stood next to the door, smiling as they approached.

"Thank you for coming, Ayla. Come, there is something I must show you," Ayla looked over at Zeva, the rat shrugged.

Vikus opened the huge door.

Ayla's eyes popped out of her head a little, the stone room was big, but the size mattered little, it was the writing on the walls. Thousands upon thousands of words and prophacies littered the room, on the floor, and the ceiling as well.

"Ho-ly crap..." she muttered, gazing at the walls.

"You see, centuries ago, the prophet, Bartholomew of Sandwich led many people down to the Underland, after the gates were sealed, he locked himself in this room, and carved prophecies, many we have solved, and many we have not. One mentions you," Vikus nodded, pointing to one in particular on the floor, entitled _Prophecy of Moon. _

"Moon, huh? You guys can't see the moon from down here, can you?" Ayla asked, leaning closer to the writing.

"We can not. But on one night, very soon, we will. The Night of Light we call it, it happens every three centuries or so, the Earth is postioned just right, so we can see the moon. Read you the prophecy?" he asked. Ayla began reading out loud.

_The Moon shines down,_

_ The Moon shines down,_

_ Upon the two of Legend,_

_ The Moon shines down,_

_ The Moon shines down,_

_ The Bones betray the Secret..._

_ Three over, two under shall right the wrong,_

_ The bodies will show, the trickster shall fall,_

_ Let these long dark halls see the light..._

_ Let these long silent halls roar,_

_ These wings will fly, the fire will spread,_

_ The Metal of Curve just may save us all,_

_ It may be the key to stop the fall,_

_But beware, the Stone Castle grows large,_

_ Go to the Queen, she will hold the Secret,_

_ Hurry, the time is near,_

_ Under the Moon,_

_ When the light fades,_

_ The blade falls,_

_ Under the Moon..._

"Wow, that's not at all as dark and foreboding as I thought," Ayla said nudging Zeva, "I'm needed because...?" she asked Vikus.

"You are the holder of The Metal of Curve, you are known as Trickster at your school," he said, pointing to the stanza about the Trickster. Ayla scowled.

"And how do you know my nickname?"

"Zeva... enlightened me," Ayla turned her head in the direction of the rat, Zeva met her gaze and looked up at the ceiling.

"Is that a new ceiling? It looks nice," she said, Vikus was confused, but said nothing.

"When do I leave for this?" Ayla thumbed at one of the words.

"When Gregor arrives, he too is part of this quest," Ayla perked an eyebrow, she was unsure about everything now. "Hmm, in due time I guess," she thought.

All in due time.

-o-

***Siren goes off*** **Short chapter alert! Short chapter alert! Sorry about that, I am lacking creativity, that prophecy sucked it all from me. I hope it is good enough, I kinda made it up as I went, and I'll figure it out as I go. If you were wondering, yes, I have an unstable idea chart thing, actually, there is no chart, I make everything up as I go, I just wing it, though it looks like everything is turning out fine. What a shocker.**

**I really need reviews! They tend to give authors a bit more... oomph, so to speak, give us a reason to keep writing. I'm not begging, well, mayhaps a little... **

** R&R!**

**}}-AASt- Abbess and Recorder of Loamtree Abbey.**


	4. Chapter 4: Gregor Chapter

***SPOILER ALERT!* If you havn't finished the series, there is a spoiler!**

**Elo, here to brainwash everyone! Thanks to all who reviewed, I enjoy those very much! This is going to be a Gregor chapter. Please note that I changed the genre to Supernatural/Adventure, but don't worry, I'll make sure to get some romance in there. Also, I have not read the books in forever, so please forgive me if I bring someone who is dead into this story, plus, you never know if this is an alternate universe, I don't even know if it is!**

**Please R&R!**

**Shoutouts: Assassin Author( Thanks so much for your kind reviews!)**

Step, step, step. Mud puddle. Step, step, step, trip, mud puddle. Step, step, step, stagger, really big rock.

The bat Shrilf flew ahead. They were in a tunnel, it was a gateway of sorts. Shrilf stopped and landed on Gregor's shoulder.

"We are almost... there Warrior... I must go back up soon..." he panted, sticking his little tongue out.

"How far until we reach the pickup point?" Gregor asked, steering Boots away from another puddle in the dark.

"Perhaps another... hour, give or take... a few minutes. But I need to...rest, and hunt..." Shrilf said, winging off into the darkness before Gregor could say more.

"Gregor! Look at the puddle! It has bone in it!" Boots said cheerfully. Gregor flashed his light over to the general direction of Boots. She crouched at the edge of a puddle, the skull of what looked like a dog, maybe a coyote, sat in the shallow water. Boots was busying herself prying a tooth from the mouth.

Gregor watched for a moment, until Boots got the tooth out.

"Alright, leave the dead coyote alone," he said.

"But, I want another tooth!" Boots scowled.

"Yes, but it's not nice to pull out the teeth of dead things,"

"Oh. Sorry doggy skull. Can I keep this tooth?"

"Sure, I'll make a necklace out of it," he said, rolling his eyes. Boots smiled, she had won "Now, can you please try to sleep? It's late, and Shrilf will be back in a little while," he asked.

Boots frowned, and curled up on Gregor's backpack. Her slow relaxed breathing told him she was sleeping.

-o-

Within thirty minutes, Shrilf was back. Gregor picked Boots up, allowing her to keep sleeping.

Step, step, step, puddle, curse under breath. Step, step, step, trip, don't drop Boots. Step, step, big up to ankle mud puddle. Scowl.

Gregor kept going until the bat landed on his shoulder again.

"Gregor... we are here... your escort as well... fare thee well... thank you..." he said, Gregor started to reply, but Shrilf disappeared like smoke.

He continued walking, until he came out of the tunnel, and onto a suspended rock platform. On the far edge sat a bat, the Underland kind, it was a golden bat, an Underlander sat near it, leaning against a wing. Gregor didn't need to see who it was he knew.

Carefully, he set his backpack down, then lowered Boots onto it. She continued to sleep. Gregor approached making sure his feet scuffed, warning the bat. The flier looked up, and twittered, the Underlander looked, and sprung up.

Gregor found himself nearly knocked to the ground as Luxa hugged him. She looked up, and brushed her lips against his lightly. They hugged a few moments more, then Luxa pulled out of the embrace, and walked over to Aurora.

"How have you been, Gregor?" she asked, grabbing his hand when he came to stand next to her.

"I've been... less than good, we moved, it's boring where we live," he said flatly.

"I am sorry. I would have visited, but Vikus kept me on a leash, as you say, after the gateway was found," she said. Gregor gave her hand a squeeze.

"It's okay, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that's why it is called the present," he smiled. A yawn interrupted further chat. Boots was awake.

She smiled at Luxa and Aurora.

"Hi bat! Hi Luxa!" she said, pushing herself up to wander over to say hi. Boots walked up to Luxa, the Underlander knelt down, like the day she had met Boots. The little girl smiled and pointed at Luxa's eyes.

"Purple," she said in a matter of fact.

Luxa smiled, and patted Boots' head.

"I would love to stick around and chit chat, but we need to get going back to Regalia," Aurora purred.

"Fine, your so very impatient. Come, let us go," Luxa mounted her bat. Gregor followed, pulling Boots up with him.

-o-

When they arrived at Regalia, it was late, at least Gregor thought so. Boots had nodded off again. Aurora touched down on the palace balcony, jolting Boots awake.

"We there?" she mumbled, stretching the sleep from herself.

"Yeah, baby girl, we're there," Gregor replied

Luxa helped Boots down, then waited for Gregor to slide off. Vikus arrived, a smile plastered over half of his face, the other side a bit limp, paralyzed from the heart attack he had had.

"Greetings War- Overlander, I forget I can not call you Warrior anymore," he sighed, a merry twinkle showing in his eyes, "You must be tired. You may bathe, then sleep. We will discuss when you wake," he said.

"Thanks, Vikus. C'mon Boots, want to take a bath?" he asked.

"Bath! Bath!" Boots answered excitedly.

"Good. I still remember the way, I think," Gregor said, walking down the hall.

-o-

After bathing, Boots and Gregor went strait to bed. For Boots, it wasn't an option, she was dead on her feet with exhaustion. Vikus said they were going to discuss in the morning, Gregor had a bad feeling about this 'Prophecy of Moon' or whatever it was.

-o-

When Gregor woke, Boots was, miraculously, not curled up in his bed, instead, she was still in her own.

He tried to get up without waking Boots, but the moment his feet touched the floor her eyes flew open.

"Morning, Gregor," she yawned, in turn making Gregor yawn, this made Boots yawn again, causing Gregor to yawn as well, Boots did it again, though this time Gregor faked it.

"You sleepy!" she said. Gregor walked over to her bed and helped her out of it, for it was a bit too tall for her to jump.

"Come on. We need to take baths again," Boots stuck her lower lip out.

"But I don't wanna take anover bath," she pouted. Gregor could sense the temper tantrum coming.

"Why? After that you get breakfast, you like breakfast," he said, he could keep the fit at bay for a while, but she hadn't broken down in a long time, it was high time she did.

"Brekkist?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah, breakfast. But you need to bath before you eat," Gregor said, hoping it would work.

"Okay," he inwardly sighed in relief.

-o-

Gregor walked into the dining room they had eaten many times before. He was greeted by a curious sight.

A girl about his age sat at the table, glaring at the Gregor's favorite rat. A bowl of Shrimp in Cream sauce sat between them. Ripred moved his paw close, the girl's hand closer. Slowly they inched. Ripred smiled, and with the quickness of greased lightning, slid the bowl to himself with his tail.

"Hey! You cheated! Zeva, he cheated, you saw!" the girl complained, looking over to a black and white rat.

"I'm not getting into this!" the rat said, minding to her own food.

Ripred looked up and grinned.

"Ah, isn't it our favorite Overlander. I heard you were dead," Ripred said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh? Then I must be the healthiest ghost around!" Gregor chuckled.

The girl whirled around, and looked at him, a thoughtfull look upon her face. "Holy mother of pearl! She has pink eyes!" he thought.

She was dressed in Underland garb, a swordlike weapon hung at her side, a dagger accompanied it. A a blue and yellow baseball cap sporting the logo _Napa, (_Gregor assumed it was auto parts) sat perched on her head,covering most of her curly hair, which was pulled through the strap at the back.

"I'm Gregor," he said, stretching his hand out to shake.

She regarded him for a moment, chewing her cheek, unsure. Then heartily shook his hand.

"Ayla, though I'm not too sure if it's a pleasure. That's Zeva," she pointed to the rat, whom nodded and went back to her food.

"Gregor! What about me?" Boots squeaked.

"Oh, uh, this is Boots, my sister," Gregor said.

Ayla knelt down to eye level.

"Hi! I'm Boots!" Boots said. Ayla melted.

"Hi, I'm Ayla. How old are you Boots?" asked. Gregor was impressed, she knew the first question to give to little kids.

"I'm five!" she exclaimed, holding up six fingers, she looked at her hands and relised her mistake, and put down the extra. "How many are you?" she asked.

"Oh, me? I'm fourteen," Boots was impressed. She didn't even have enough fingers for that number.

"Wow, you big girl," she said. Ayla smiled, and stood.

"So, did Vikus show you the prophecy of Gloom and Doom?" she asked, flerishing her hands.

"Nah, not yet. After we eat,"

"Good, because he says we leave in a couple of days," Great, gallivanting off in two days. This was going to be fun. Not.

-o-

**Done. Yay, two chapters in a day! If this seems a bit confused and messy, my bad. I had to juggle writing, baking bread, making pot pie, and catching my cockatoo Storm, who thought it would be funny to fly out the door when I went out. Adding insult to injury, she laughed at me. Curse the day I taught her to talk.**

**But the bread and pot pie turned out good, and I did catch Storm, plus finished the chapter, so it turned out all right.**

** Can I get a 'Whoop, whoop!' for my longest chapter yet? **

**Haha, R&R!**

**}}-AASt- Abbess and Recorder of Loamtree Abbey d:~)**(`~:P**


	5. Funny Truth, and Library Time

** Mwahahahahaha! I give you another Gregor chapter. You have no idea how much I wanted to write an Ayla chapter :( Oh well, I can suck it up. Zeva was actually my pet rat before she died on the 3rd. Ahh, my little Shoulder Angel... Please enjoy the next chapter, because I know I wont. ;)**

**o-o**

Gregor frowned at the floor, another prophecy to ad to his list of prophecies he didn't believe. Sigh.

He read it over again.

_The Moon shines down,_

_The Moon shines down,_

_Upon the two of Legend,_

_The Moon shines down,_

_The Moon shines down,_

_The Bones betray the Secret..._

_Three over, two under shall right the wrong,_

_The bodies will show, the trickster shall fall,_

_Let these long dark halls see the light..._

_Let these long silent halls roar,_

_These wings will fly, the fire will spread,_

_The Metal of Curve just may save us all,_

_It may be the key to stop the fall,_

_But beware, the Stone Castle grows large,_

_Go to the Queen, she will hold the Secret,_

_Hurry, the time is near,_

_Under the Moon,_

_When the light fades,_

_The blade falls,_

_Under the Moon..._

"And were do I come into play?" he asked, his voice echo around the stone room.

"There, were it mentions Three over, you are one of the three," Vikus said, pointing to the phrase. Huh, that didn't sound familiar at all, "Ayla and Zeva, the other Overlanders are the other two,"

"I don't get this though," Gregor pointed to _Upon the two of Legend _

"That I'm unsure of, it might be you and Ayla. We have been searching the archives, and it seems that the rats held a legend about a curved blade, the one who held it was Champion, or Trickster," he relayed to Gregor.

"Okay, but my question is, how, and where did she get her, what did she call it?"

"A dirk,"

"Right, anyways, I'm wondering how, and where she got that thing, I mean, it's got to be rare if its held sacred to rats, right?"

"I am, unsure but-"

"You know, I don't like being talked about behind my back," Ayla interrupted as she strode into the room, Zeva in tow.

"I am sorry, Trickster, we were discussing the prophecy," Vikus apologized.

"I was wondering were you got your 'dirk' thing," Gregor finished.

"What, this piece of crap?" she asked, pulling her dirk from it's sheath, "I got it for five bucks at a yard sale in Idaho. It's worthless really, the handle's falling apart, the blade is sharp, but I don't know, not the best weapon ever, too heavy for my likes, huh, shoulda gone with the Calvary sword, a little acid woulda taken care of the rust..." she trailed off, "I'm sorry, I'm rambling," she said,sliding the dirk into its sheath.

"You got that, at a yard sale, for five dollars?" Gregor was surprised.

"Yep, the lady's husband collected swords and such, she showed me his private stash, ooh, it was glorious, pole axes, cleavers, claymores, sabers, daggers, shields, long bows, short bows, mmm, makes me drool a little..." she trailed off again, "Oops, sorry, rambling, again. Anywho, this thing was cheapest, and my grandma was hustling me, all I had was ten, so it was a good deal," she said.

"Interesting, very, intriguing. You see, your dirk is a priceless rat artifact, yes, the coincidence is they call whomever has it, Champion, or Trickster,"

The realization dawned on Ayla.

"And, lemme guess, I'm the Trickster, the Champion, Champions are warriors, am I correct? So me being Champion, I am also in a way Warrior," she stated, not really asking, she had a hunch she was right.

"Correct," Vikus nodded

"Hmm, I thought so. And we're going on a quest, when will we leave?" she asked, looking at the prophecy.

"Yes, you will leave in a couple of days, you may spend that time meeting others, and preparing yourselves,"

"Can I get a copy of the prophecy? I want to think it out with Zeva," Ayla asked, running her fingers through her rat's fur.

"Yes, yes, of course, I will have copies made for both of you," Vikus said, stroking his beard. Ayla smiled as he did so, it reminded her of her dad when he pet his beard, before it happened that is.

"Coolio. May we leave now?" Ayla said, Vikus raised an eyebrow, Overlanders said the oddest things.

"Yes, you may. I will send Mereth up later to gather you for weapons practice," he said.

Ayla bowed her head respectfully, and left, off to raid the kitchen pantry with Zeva and Ripred.

"Awesome! Weapons practice! I've always wanted to know how to use this pig sticker," she said to Zeva.

"Mmm, hmm,"

"Pft, you're _such _a wet blanket," Ayla rolled her eyes. Zeva looked at her and both cracked up laughing.

Gregor shook his head and smiled, girls were _so _weird.

He headed out to go find a library, he was in a reading mood, odd, but it could happen to him.

"Hey, Vikus? Is there a library within the palace?" he asked, really not wanting to be mobbed.

"Yes, come, I will show you the way," Vikus smiled. God that guy smiled a lot, it was almost contagious.

-o-

"Thanks, Vikus!" Gregor said as the old man walked away to do whatever old people do.

The library was big. Very big. Many shelves lined the huge stone room, books stuffed into every shelf available.

Gregor walked to one shelf, and scanned for anything worth reading.

_"Hmm, the great Flier War, nah, Near extinction of the Twisters... No, The Plague of the Warmbloods, lived that nightmare, boring, hmm, The History of Regalia, hmm, interesting, pft, why not?" _he thought, pulling the book from it's shelf.

Soon he found a comfy little couch to read on. Gregor plopped himself down, and began flipping through the pages.

Some of the historical accounts were interesting, others boring. But, the Great Crawler Scourge caught him, he was sucked into the story.

-o-

Luxa walked down the corridor, she had asked Vikus where Gregor was, and was surprised he was in the library.

She entered the big musty, dusty room.

Soon she found him sitting on a couch, reading some old book, he didn't look up when she walked over to him, so she sat down next to him. This time he looked up.

"Hey Luxa, when did you get here?" he asked.

"Only a moment ago, you were too, wrapped up in your book to notice me," she said.

Gregor smiled, "I don't know how I could not notice you, it's hard to ignore you, too," he smiled.

"So, what have you learned?" she asked, scooting closer to look at the book.

"I'm reading about the Great Crawler Scourge, it's actually interesting," he said.

"Could you read to me?" Luxa asked, nestling her head on his chest.

"Sure," he said, adopting a comical old man voice he read, "And so, after Iklafar and Gekmas the leaders of the crawlers, moved their colony away from the Land of Scourge, they found a cave, with very low ceilings, and colonized there. Some time later, the Stone Mason, Bartholomew of Sandwich, came with a tribe of natives and explored. The Crawlers honored him by preforming the Ring Dance, after the dance, the Crawlers soon began to..." Luxa laughed as he continued.

Soon he was done reading about the crawlers. Gregor closed the book, and looked over at Luxa.

She had curled herself up on the couch, her head resting on his chest.

"Is that all?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's all," Gregor answered.

"Thank you for reading to me," she said, pulling her head off his chest, she looked into his eyes.

Gregor grinned a little, and leaned closer to her, Luxa doing the same in turn. Finally, they met halfway, and kissed. They parted after a few moments.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," Gregor whispered back. Luxa rested her head on his chest again, listening to his heartbeat.

Gregor stroked her hair gently, letting it slide through his fingers like the finest silk. They stayed like that for a while, them he planted a kiss on the top of her head, and started to get up.

"Well, I guess we gotta go, we need to do weapons training down at the arena," he said, Luxa almost whimpered.

"Yes, I suppose I must go too," she said.

Gregor pushed himself off the couch, and offered his hand for Luxa. She excepted it, and pulled herself up, Gregor kept hold of her hand and spun her close, their bodies pressed together. He kissed her again.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" he asked.

"You'll have to remind me," she said, earning another kiss.

"How's that?" Gregor asked.

She sighed, "It will have to do," they laughed as Gregor released her.

"C'mon, we need to get to the arena,"

They both walked out of the library, leaving the book behind on the couch, it was going to be an interesting day.

-o-

**End chapter! Omph, it took me forever to write this! I had writers block first, though I tore that wall down, then every time I tried to type, something would come and interrupt me. I hope my romance scene was up to your expectations, it's my first one ever, so cut me some slack if it sucked. **

** Actually, I'm basing the dirk Ayla has off my own dirk, that's right, one fourteen year old with a weapon of mass destruction is loose upon the land! I did get it for 5$ at a yard sale, and it was the best deal I ever made! Aah, that thing and I have had grand adventures, being Redwall Warriors, Warrior of Prophecy in the Underland, and killing lots of Darkspawn. Mmm, good times. :)**

** I will update as soon as I can, but having a billion other fanfics to write at once kinda makes it hard to focus on one.**

** By the way, special thanks to Assassin Author, you made this chapter possible, thanks!**

** R&R!**

**}}}-AAST- Abbess and Recorder of Loamtree Abbey d:~)**(~:P**


	6. Your a What? And a Bat Named Jinx

** Yay, training scene in the arena! I've been planning this one for months! *hyperventilates***

** I want you guys to know that the next chapter is a filler, it kind of explains Zeva, I kinda accidentally left who she was in a shadow, so I'm writing a chapter on her next, and in a way, it will be my last tribute to my wonderful Shoulder Angel. :'(**

** Another thanks to Assassin Author! *Releases doves and gold chaffinch's from a box* Here is your cyber cookie!**

** Disclaimer: Really? Do think I need to use this? Pft. **

**O-O**

"Hey Zeva, can I have a ride?" Ayla prodded at her rat.

"What? No! You may not ride on me!" she flicked her ears, they were talking in sign language again.

"You see? This is another example of you being a wet blanket!" Ayla signed, adding a little growl to the end of her sentence.

Growing up on a farm really had an affect on Ayla, she was used to dead things, very used to them, she was used to blood, it never bothered her unless it was her own, no one made her bleed her own blood! She was used to animal crap, yes, having stepped in it with bare feet enough, she learned her lesson, bare feet were better than shoes, feet could be cleaned in the shower.

The one thing living on a farm had done was the fact she used more growls, squeaks, and other noises to communicate, sometimes a well placed growl could get a point across, where words would not work, some called her the Animal Whisper, her friends, and enemies called her a freak, she could care less about that.

"So, Ripred, how far is it to the Arena?" Ayla asked the rat trotting behind her.

"Twice as much as half of it," he and Zeva laughed. Ha ha.

"Oh, tee hee, so very funny, really I mean it," she scowled.

"Bah, you're no fun. We're almost there, lets hope this works out better than the pantry raid," he scoffed. The raid was going good, until Ayla knocked a bunch of pans from a shelf, causing much noise, and uproar, luckily they got out before anyone found them.

"Yeah... new ceiling huh Zeva?" Ayla smirked.

"What-evur!" she said in a girly voice, "At least we got the food too," she said.

Ayla nodded in agreement.

"Apple bottom blue jeans wid the fuuur," Ayla said suddenly in a sing-song voice.

"Now, I know quite a bit about you Overlanders, but sometimes, I must admit, you confuse me," Ripred said. Now that was something, him admitting he was confused.

"It's part of a song stuck in my head. Hey at least it's not, 'Stop! Pajama time!'" Ayla laughed. Zeva rolled her eyes.

"Come on Ay, we need to hurry, or we'll miss something," Zeva said, "I'll even give you a ride so we can run!" she said.

"Sweet! I call shotgun!" Ayla said, springing up onto Zeva's back, "Well? Giddy up!" she said tapping her heels lightly on the rat's sides.

Both rats broke into a headlong run, Zeva lagged behind a little.

"Holy crap girl! Chris is _so_ going to dump you when he finds out how much you weigh!" she exclaimed.

O-O

"Wheel out the practice cannons!" Mareth shouted across the field, on cue several cannons were pushed over to the training area.

"For those of you who don't know what this is, this is blood ball practice, fifteen balls are shot from a cannon, you try to hit as many as possible, is that clear?" the on legged Underlander asked.

There were assorted 'yes's' and 'aye's' from everyone.

"Gregor! Why don't you go first," Mareth said.

Gregor walked up, sword in hand. The handles were cranked, and fifteen blood balls shot out of the cannon. Ayla noticed something, the moment the balls came out, Gregor stiffened, and became a blur when they neared. Fifteen shells lay at his feet within moments, this caused massive applause.

"Good, good! Luxa! Will you go as well?" Mareth asked.

Luxa nodded and held her sword up, the handles were cranked, her blade flashed, eleven broken balls littered the ground. More applause. Ayla watched Luxa bow, then walked over to Gregor, she smiled at him. _Whoa, stop. I know that smile. Aww, how sweet, they're totally a thing, _she thought, letting her girl side come out to say hi.

Soon it was her turn, Ayla held her dirk steady. She had refused a sword, a dirk was her weapon.

The handles cranked, the wax blood balls came out. Ayla blinked once, her eyes went from pink to dark red, everything slowed down, all sound was gone, it was silent. She smirked, and attacked. Soon all fifteen oozing shells were at her feet, she shook her head, trying to get the feeling out, she had found that she was violent when it stayed too long. Her eyes went back to pink. All was silent, she shrugged, wiped her blade on the ground to clean it, and with a tilt of her hat, walked over to Zeva.

"Good job," the rat said.

"Thanks, I could have done better," Ayla joked.

Zeva smiled.

Everyone was still staring. Ayla sighed. Now what?

"Can you guys stop staring at me? It's givin' me the willies," she said.

Something poked her back, she turned. Ripred scowled, and nodded his head for her to came with him.

O-O

"You're a Rager," Gregor said.

"Oh, is that what that's called? Huh, I call it Bloodwrath [1]. But hey, whatever floats your boat," Ayla said casually.

"You know what it is?" Gregor asked.

"Yeah, I've had it a long time, at first it was a pain in the tar muscle to control, but after a while, it was easy. Wait, are we playing Twenty Questions? Because I forgot my white board and markers," she said, a sliver of snark hidden in her voice.

"It's very rare to have this. Do you know what it is?" Ripred asked.

"Two questions down eighteen to go. No, I have no idea what it is, all I know is that it make fighting a lot easier," Ayla said, thumbing her dirk blade.

"All it means is you are a natural born killer," Gregor expected her to break down and cry about that, what did she do? She shrugged, she Trickster, holder of the Metal of curve, newly found Rager, shrugged.

"This is a lot of responsibility, and if used wrong it-" Gregor was cut off.

"I think she knows this," Ripred said[2].

"Yes, I do. Now, can I go? I'm hungry, and I want food," Ayla said.

"Yes, yes, you glutton, go and do what you want, I need to talk to Gregor," Ripred waved her off with his tail.

Ayla tipped the bill of her hat with a hand, and jogged off, Zeva trotting next to her.

"I call shotgun!"

"No you will not!"

-o-

"I want you to help me train her in echolocation, she's already mastered Rager abilities," Ripred said.

"Sure, I could do that, when do you want to start?" Gregor asked.

"Today, after she eats, I can't understand how she put away all that food and stays so thin," Ripred shook his head.

"Alright, after she eats,"

-o-

When they got to the banquet room, someone else was already eating there. It was a bat. The Underland kind.

It was a pretty blue, with smoky grey swirls.

It looked up, saw Ayla, and smiled.

"Greetings Trickster, come to dine? I would suggest Shrimp and Cream Sauce, but the rat Whatshisface, ate it all," it purred.

Ayla immediately decided she like this bat.

"Please, don't call me Trickster, call me Ayla, Ay, Lays, Dunderhead, whatever works for you. Might have the pleasure of knowing your name?" she asked politely.

"They call me Jinx," she said.

"It's a pleasure," she said.

"I'm sure it is," Jinx said cheekily.

"You know what? I like you," Ayla said coming to sit next to the flier, Zeva followed.

"And... who is your companion?" Jinx asked.

"That's Zeva, my rat," Jinx looked confused.

"Your rat? Does this mean she is bonded to you?" she asked, looking just a little disappointed.

"No, when we were in the Overland, where we come from, animals can be bought and sold as pets or in Zeva's case..." Ayla gulped a little, "Snake food,"

Jinx looked horrified, "You mean, she was raised specificity to be food for another animal? That's just, sick!" she exclaimed.

"People do what people do. Zeva was lucky, we picked her out of the snake food tank, she's the best animal I've ever had, other than my dog, who died... but I'm gonna shut up because I'm going to start rambling," Ayla finished.

"Then, if she is not bonded to you, why does she follow you?" that was an interesting question, why was Zeva sticking around?

"I do, because in a way, I am bonded to her, not in the way it is done down here as in you say the magic words, just spiritual bonding, I would be lost without her, the same vice versa," Zeva said.

Ayla was taken aback by her rat's wise words, and only nodded, what else could she do?

"Well, anyone else hungry? I'm starfished!" [3] [4]

"What does that mean?" Jinx asked.

"It's a cross between 'starving' and 'famished'," Ayla said.

"Well, then in that case, I'm 'starfished' too!" Jinx exclaimed. They all laughed.

Little did Ayla know, this might be one of the last merry time of her life.

O-O

** Ohh, creepy cliff hanger!**

**[1] I used the term 'Bloodwrath' from the Redwall novels, it's really the same thing as being a Rager, except mostly badgers get it... this term belongs to the late Brian Jacques!**

**[2] Haha, Ripred said, it rhymes, couldn't help pointing that out.**

**[3] Starfished is another term in a Redwall book!**

**[4] In case you are wondering, Ayla has read the Redwall books, so that's where she gets these terms.**

**Alright, next chapter is a small filler for Zeva, I might turn it into a one-shot when I'm done with this book, but I'm not too sure... R&R!**

**}}-AAST- Abbess and Recorder of Loamtree Abbey, d:~)**(~:p**


	7. Zeva's Story, Filler Chapter

** Filler chapter alert! **

** This is a filler chapter, and also a tribute to my rat Zeva, my Little Shoulder Angel, so if you just want to read the story, go ahead and skip this chapter, I don't blame you if ya do.**

**Shoutout: You all know who it is! Go to the early chapters, she's mentioned there! :)**

** Disclaimer:Check the last chapter.**

**O-O**

"My earliest memory was the cage, it was small, barley big enough for my brothers and sisters and our mom.

I was in an unlucky litter, I only had six siblings, all my friends from neighboring cages had ten or thirteen, but, momma always said, 'Beggar's can't be choosers, young rat, so shut yore trap an' eat yore pellets!' or was that Gramma? I can never remember.

One day when I was little...

-O-

"Come young'uns! Breeder brought us some dinner!" I heard Momma call. With happy shrieks, I joined my siblings in the mad stampede across the cedar tree wood shavings.

"Whats for dinnah tonight, Momma?" I asked.

"Well, Sixrat, I'm sorry, but more pellets," Momma said.

"Aww! But we had pellets yesterday too! Why can't we have good food like the otha cages?" I pouted.

"Because, we're special rats Sixrat, we're feeders, all the others are testers, breeders, and pets," Momma said, I, being young and naïve, didn't know what a feeder was, but it felt good being one, "Now, go eat your pellets before Grandma lectures you again," Momma scolded.

"Yes marm, no marm, three bags full marm!" I said as I scampered away, my mother shook her head and followed, soon to scold me for being cheeky.

O-O

The next day a human came and opened the cage, all my siblings and I were eager to be played with. But Momma called to us.

We surrounded her, she looked sad, if rats could shed tears...

"Now young'uns, my babies, you are of age to be told the truth," she said, "Being three weeks old, you must know what a feeder rat is," my sister Tworat interrupted.

"It's the best rat in tha world!" she shrieked.

"Tworat, don't interupt. Feeder rats are born, and bred for one things, food. I was saved because they needed a new mother for feeder rats, I was lucky, my littermates were not. You are all snake, lizzard, and even fish food, that is your purpose, I am not coming with you, one of your sisters is staying here to be the new mother of the feeders," she explained, "They will pick who stays, the rest of you..." she trailed off, "I love you all, I hope something happens, and you all die quickly, instead of being eaten, or frozen for food, or maybe you will be even luckier, and someone will want one of you as a pet, but it is unlikley. I will not see any of you again. Onerat, step forward,"

My brother, Onerat came forward, Momma wrapped her tail around him.

"I proclaim you leader of your siblings, you are my firstborn, and you will lead them when they are frightened, right down to the death!" she proclaimed, her mother had done the same for her firstborn when it was their time, "You will be put in a large box, with many other pups, do not let yourselves be seperated, stay together, Onerat, it is your job to keep them together, can you accept this role?" she asked.

"Yes, Momma,"

"If Onerat is killed, or cannot live up to his promise, I proclaim Sixrat Vice Leader! She followed up the rest of you, making sure none were left behind, Sixrat, do you except this role?" Momma said.

I gulped, unsure about this, I was always the leader in our games, but this was different, it was a life and death kind of thing,"

"Yes Momma, I do," I had no idea how I found the courage.

"Good. I love you, Onerat, I love you Tworat, I love you Threerat..." Momma continued until she got to me, "Goodbye Sixrat, I love you, make me proud, you have my name, I am Sixrat, your mother," Momma said. I was shocked, I was named after my mother!

Then the human took us. There was panic, dissaray, but Onerat kept us together, he held our family up when no-rat could. He was a leader.

-O-

I don't remember much after that, it all turned into a blur, until one day...

-O-

There was yelling and screaming in the cage, I opened my eyes and scrambled out of the plastic igloo house I had been sleeping in. I saw my sister, Fiverat.

"Fiverat, what's happening?" I asked her.

"It's Onerat! Look, they took him, and they're headed to the snake cage, oh it's horrible! He's gonna get fed!" she squeaked.

"Sixrat!" came a distant cry, "I name you Leader of our siblings, lead them well!" I heard him say.

There was a collective gasp as he was dropped into the snake tank. I watched in horror as a big yellow python thing, reared up and began coiling itself around Onerat, I heard a scream of agony from him, then it was silent. When the snake began eating, I looked away.

Then some-rat said, "Sixrat! Leader of the Sixrat family! Chant, for her! Sixrat, Sixrat!" the chant picked up, they were all saying my name! "If she's as good as her brother, lets name her Leader of the Tank!" another said.

"All hail Sixrat, leader of the Tank! Sixrat, Sixrat, Sixrat!" they all chanted, my heart beat a mile a minute, which wasn't that fast.

-O-

After my coranation as leader, everything faded back into a haze, the days blurred together, all was good, until one day...

-O-

We were playing catch the Queen. I had been elected 'Queen' because I was the ruler of the tank.

"Go, Queen, go!" Four-rat my brother said. I sprang forward in a three second headstart, all the others followed, hot on my heals.

As I ran, I failed to notice the humans at the edge of the tank, I ran by, then was halted, and hauled into the air, a human held me by the tail, it felt much like being held by one finger for a human.

After a moment of inspection, he dropped me into a box, a collective gasp came from my subjects.

"Welp, that 'un's a female, take 'er up to the front counter and pay," one of the humans said.

-O-

My box opened, and light poured in. The happy face of a human pup smiled above me.

"She's perfect! Can I name her?" she asked, name me? I already had a name.

"She is your rat," a male voice said.

"I'm gonna name her Zeva, because she is the best T.V character ever!" the little girl said. I felt honored, being named.

-O-

Once again, the days blurred together, all was good, those days turned into years, I was five, very old for a rat, yet I still acted two weeks, we had many photos of me, one wearing a Barbie doll crown, another eating a huge cheese filled cracker, playing in a multicolored playpen. Then came that faithful day...

-O-

When Ayla was done feeding her kitten, she walked past my cage, I was ready. She walked by, and grabbed me in a swift, deft swoop, her mother failed to notice. She slid me into her cloak as she closed the door.

"How long do you think it will take for her to find out?" Ayla asked.

"Well, considering she feeds me in ten minutes, I think about, hmm, just a rough guess, ten minutes," I answered.

"Really? I guess we better get a-rollin," Ayla said. I rolled my eyes, and nestled into her coat pocket.

-O-

When we arrived, she asked me how long it would the mine would be, I answered something smart, I can't remember, anyways...

-O-

I knew it was a rat the moment it attacked, I could smell it. I screamed and scurried away, then something happened, I was aware of a pain, my body began growing bigger, the pain was from my body expanding, and growing too fast, it hurt.

When it stopped, I looked at myself, I was huge! Momma said something about getting big when you ate a lot, but this was exaggerating...

I could here the cry of something dying, and hurried over to Ayla, she sat there wide eyed and blood spattered.

Soon, humans came, I was frightened, but confident, Momma chose me for a reason. The one said something about the dead rat being diseased, but I didn't believe this, when I smelled rat earlier, there was no smell of sickness, but why would this human lie?

We were loaded onto huge bats, Ayla fell asleep the whole time, but, I could care less, I was fascinated by the caves, looking at the formations, wondering how old it all was...

-O-

The next few days passed by fast, then we were in the city of Regalia, I was instantly hustled into a stone room, a human came by hours later with a little cart, several syringes with needles sat on it, I had a bad feeling...

-O-

Then we were reunited, and shown the Prophecy. I was fascinated again by all this, the culture of the Underlanders' was different, I was... Intriguing.

A while later, we met Gregor, as soon as he and the Underland Queen Luxa stepped through that door, I could sense something between them...

The next day Ayla and I went to train after our disaster in the kitchen with Ripred, Ayla hit the total, and look as if she could care less, honestly, I was bored, I knew she would get them all, but still you have to be at these things.

Later, Gregor told her she was a Rager, but she shrugged, she had become a fighter the day she was jumped at school, no one messed with her after that...

Then Ayla and I left for the kitchens, we met a bat there, Jinx was her name I think, and after that, I was pulled aside by one Vikus to be questioned. End. Period, comma,"

-O-

Zeva looked up, that was all she had to say.

Vikus scribbled down a few more words, then rolled the parchment up.

"Thank you, Zeva. That is all I wished to know," he said.

"Did you question Ayla too?" Zeva asked.

"Yes, though I find your story more interesting. Thank you for your time, this will be filed, and put in the archives," the old man said.

Zeva sighed as she got up, stretching like a cat, smiling in satisfaction as bones crackled and popped into place, she headed back to the sleeping chamber, they were leaving the next day, and she was tired.

O-O

**I love ya Zeva, may you rest in eternal peace.**

**Zeva, August Third, 2011. My Little Shoulder Angel, nri-fao, goodbye. **


	8. Breakfast Chats, and Getting Going

**I stayed up all night to write! Blah, I have to go to school soon, in like, hmm, I don't know next month sometime... Might I remind this is T for swearing?**

** Assassin Author, I hope this chapter is up to your expectations! ;)**

**-O-**

Ayla added up the list of people coming.

Her, no duh Sherlock, Zeva, Gregor, Luxa, Aurora, Boots, Jinx, the roach Temp, Ripred, a rat called Silkfur, and a striped gray bat named Jiff.

They all sat around the table, eating food and talking. The moment Jinx, Ayla and Zeva got together, they began chatting like little girls, it was entertaining for the moment.

"So this Chris, he is, in love with you, and you both know it, but it's a touch and go relationship? Is this common in the Overland?" Jinx asked in a hushed voice.

"Mmm hmm, welllll, I'm not too sure if he really loves me, but he is fun to hang around, and mess with, so everyone thinks we're a thing, so we just go with it, because it's just too much work goin' against it," Ayla said, stuffing some sort of pancake thing into her mouth.

"You need to work on your manners," Zeva scolded.

"Huh, you're one to talk," Ayla said, remembering some past event.

"Soooo, Zeva, how's your romance life been doin'?" Ayla asked.

"That's none of your bid-ness," Zeva snapped.

Ayla and Jinx looked at each other, Ayla smirked.

"What's he like?" she asked, "Is he like really buff, and muscular? Or is he the soft gooey kind that sends you flowers?" Ayla asked, clasping her hands, and making a goofy face.

"Not telling!" Zeva said.

"Wet blanket!" Ayla sang, "Pft, _at least_ tell us his name!" she begged.

"Silkfur," came the answer.

"'Scuse me, wha?" Ayla asked.

"Silkfur, his name is Silkfur,"

"How'd yah meet him?" Ayla pried.

"Through Ripred," Zeva muttered.

"Was it a blind date or something?"

"I need to get _my_ whiteboard and markers! You're playing Twenty Questions!" she said, "No. Not a blind date, not even a date, well, okay maybe a little, okay, maybe a lot of a date, but it was not blind, and it worked out after the awkward silence,"

"Way, whoa, whoa, whoa, isn't Silkfur coming with us?" Ayla asked.

"Ripred pulled a few strings, and made a puppet dance,"

"Ah, manipulation, my favorite word,"

Someone tapped on their glass, everyone pulled out of conversation.

It was Vikus.

"The quest begins shortly, and I would like all of you to finish eating, and prepare yourselves. Gregor, Ayla, and Zeva, I would like to have you came with me.

Ayla rose from her seat, as did Gregor and Zeva, then followed him

-O-

"Welcome to the museum, take what you think you may need, pack light. Ayla, your things are over there," Vikus said, pointing to Ayla's sling, and bags.

Ayla walked to the low shelf and snatched her things from it, she pulled the denim bag over her head, the strap resting on her left shoulder, the bag laying against her right hip. She took the leather sling and pulled I under her belt. She replaced her sandals with her sneakers, then went about to find things of worth.

She collected things as she went, flashlights, batteries, duct tape, never know what needs fixing, a pair of pliers, a strait blade knife, a new bottle of Diet Pepsi, she did a little happy dance, she was still going through caffeine withdraws.

Then she saw it.

A 22. rifle sat against the wall, a leather pouch sat next to it, no doubt it had bullets in it.

"Ooh, look Zeva, it looks like dad's gun..." she trailed off.

Zeva put her tail around Ayla.

"I don't think you should, I mean, you took hunter's safety three years ago,"

"Your right, I'll get it when we come back," she said, "Hey, Sparky, got everything you need?" Ayla said, calling Gregor by her nickname for him.

"Yeah, you?" he answered.

"Yep, lets roll," she said coming out, still eying the 22. It could wait for her.

-O-

They met up with Ripred in the banquet room, he was chatting to another rat as they approached.

"What's up, Cheese Wiz?" Ayla asked casually.

"Ahh, the pup arrives. Ayla this is Silkfur. Silkfur, this is Ayla," he said with a little sarcasm.

"It's a pleasure, Silkfur, Zeva spoke very highly of you," she said earning a thwack in the back of the head from Zeva's tail. Ayla resisted the urge to flip her the bird.

Ripred stayed quiet, enjoying the awkwardness of it all.

"We don't have all day to sit here and talk, we need go," Gregor said, getting a little impatient.

"Fine, come," Ripred slouched away, leading the others along with him.

-O-

"How will we transport everybody? There are only three fliers, I do not think they could handle such a load," Luxa was worried.

"Oh, Silkfur and I won't be riding, far too cramped," said Ripred.

Ayla did the mental math, _"So let's see, there are three bats, Ripred and Silkfur will not be riding, so there are six people... hmm... so two to a bat, that'll work, I guess, and Mom told me I was slow at math, huh, this'll show her!" _she thought, though it had taken her three minutes to come up with this answer.

"So, two to a bat?" though it was Zeva who asked.

"Yes, it will work, but the fliers will have to take breaks more frequently," Luxa said, also doing the math.

"Well, are we gonna get going? Because I'm getting a little antsy," Ayla said.

"We need to wait for Boots, Temp grabbed her at the last second to take her for a ride," Gregor shook his head.

So they waited, and waited, then they waited some more, and finally, they saw a little black speck running forwards.

"About time," Ayla muttered under her breath.

"Here be Princess, here she be," Temp said.

"Good, we can leave now," Ripred said, "Come Silkfur," Ripred and the other rat slunk off, well Ripred slouched, but it's all the same.

-O-

**Wow, I'm so sorry about the short chapter, my imagination took a huge crap on me in the middle and I've got writers block... ): So now I have no idea when I'm going to update next, I'm out of ideas, and the urge to write at the moment, sorry.**

** Yes, Ripred and Gregor had an echolocation class with Ayla, but I really didn't want to write it because you just need to think of Gregor's first lesson, that's all.**

** I will update when writers block slinks off, and goes down the crapper, so, ya.**

** AAST- Abbess and Recorder of Loamtree Abbey.**


	9. Depression, and a Phone

** Google writers block, and you get: Pain in the ass, OMFG, this sucks, and, I hit the brick wall... ouch.**

** Really, it sucks big time.**

**-O-**

They were camped out on a rock ledge near a waterfall. Yay camping.

Everyone was either sleeping of staring into the fire.

Ayla looked over to where Gregor and Luxa sat, and smiled. Luxa had fallen asleep, Gregor soon following, his arms wrapped around her shoulders, her head resting under his chin.

It was adorable. It also made Ayla homesick, she wanted to go back, and see Chris, she wanted to tell her mother she was fine, it was all going to be okay. _"'We all wish for things Ayla, I have two phrases. 'We all wish for things, I in turn wish for a shitter made out of gold,' my other one, sweet heart, 'Quick, hold out two hands, fill one with wishes, and the other with crap, which one fills up faster?'" _her father's words of wisdom as they had called them, there was something about a bird, but her brain was shadowed, and her eyes misty. Her father. Daddy. Pops. Dad.

It was in that very mine he disappeared, she lied, she never went looking for gold and gems, she looked for her father. She had been there in the cave in, she had watched him vanish before her eyes. Her role model, her best friend. She had failed him.

A tear fell to the ground, she was slowly cracking. At one point, suicide seem ideal, but then she remembered.

_'Killing yourself in vain is just stupid, all it means is you're a failure, killing yourself can't get you what you want, it just gets you killed! But really, if you kill yourself, just because you're sad, you leave your friends who get bullied to be tortured, you leave your parents to think 'Could I have stopped it?' the ones you love suffer because you were selfish, and you wanted to end your misery, but only when it's too late, you realize death will not end misery, it only creates it,' _another tear joined the one on the ground, her father would want her to be strong, like him.

Ayla started when something slid over her shoulders. Zeva looked into her eyes with understanding.

"I miss him too, Ayla," Zeva said.

"We all miss him, but sitting here moping about it wont get him back," she said stubbornly.

"Ayla... if you bottle all these emotions, you're going to explode! So you cried and thought, big deal, your only human, everyone cries at one point... well, not me, but you get the point,"

"I suppose... I'm hungry," Ayla said.

"We just ate, how can you still be hungry?" Zeva asked.

"Ask Bob, my tapeworm," Ayla joked.

"Well, I'm going to take a nap, so you and Bob can work things out," Zeva said, curling up on the ground.

Ayla hugged her knees to her chest, slowly rocking back and forth, looking into the fire, making sure to keep one eye closed so she could see afterward.

She went into a trance, a slow sweet song crept out of her mouth in a whisper.

_Hush little baby, don't say a word,_

_Daddy's gonna buy you a Mocking Bird._

_If that Mocking Bird wont sing,_

_Daddy's gonna buy you a Diamond Ring._

_If that Diamond Ring turn brass,_

_Daddy's gonna buy you a Looking Glass,_

_If that Looking Glass gets broke,_

_Daddy's gonna buy you a Billy Goat._

_If that Billy Goat won't pull,_

_Daddy's gonna buy you a Cart and Bull._

_If that Cart and Bull turn over,_

_Daddy's gonna buy you a dog named Rover._

_If that dog named Grover won't bark,_

_Daddy's gonna buy you a Horse and Cart._

_If that Horse and Cart fall down,_

_You'll always be the best little girl around..._

She continued on and on, for several verses, recalling the first time her dad taught her to shoot his gun, the memory switched to him teaching her how to dismantle, clean, and put back together his Glock pistol, it changed again, it was her and him fishing on a log, a pan-fry sized trout stuck to the hook.

She smiled, he had taken that picture with his phone, and set it as the background.

Fond memories swarmed her head, making it buzz pleasantly, she was letting a little Bloodwrath, or 'Rager' through, her eyes were red now.

She stopped singing, humming the tune quietly. Looking into the fire. She saw something, something shiny, on the other side of the fire.

The buzzing faded as she rose, and walked over to where the shine had been. She bent down to pick something up.

It was a cell phone! The shine had been from the screen, it was about to die.

Ayla had a hunch.

She flipped it open, and gasped.

-O-

** Ha, ha, cliffhanger! Yes I am going to have a chapter that doubts Sandwich, yep. Deifying the Man.**

** Yep, a phone, dun dun dun! Your all thinking about who it belongs to, and you probably know if you payed attention!**

** All the sayings belong to my own father, who is very much alive and healthy, except for the one about suicide, I made that up just for this chapter, or did I? Mwahahahahahaha! All mistakes are mine!**

** Bye!**

** AAST- Abbess, and Recorder of Loamtree Abbey d:~)**(~:p**


	10. What a Plot Twist!

** OMG! I have to go get shots tomorrow! *Dies* I don't wanna get shots! Huh, they tell you it's like a mosquito bite, gosh, is going to swell up and itch too? Shots. Joy.**

** This story has sucked up all my time for other fanfictions! Feel lucky, I'm only working on this one right now :)**

**Assassin Author, the Pepsi was just for caffiene, Ayla is pretty much me, so she gets headachs without it, and diet Pepsi is her favorite, therfor being my favorite. By the way, I go back on the 7th too, I dread the day... *shudders***

** In this chapter, you get to see what's supernatural! So if you don't like it, stop reading, because supernatural stuff ties into the plot from here on out!**

**-O-**

"And the importance of this, is..?" Jinx asked, slightly confused, and fascinated by the phone.

"It belongs to my dad! And it's not dead, he must be down here!" Ayla said, her head was buzzing again, of all the times for her inner Rager to show.

"But, he could be dead, and the charge on phones last a long time, like two weeks, it doesn't take much time to be killed out here," Gregor said

"No, when I saw him last, two years ago, his phone was almost dead, I remember him complaining about it that morning, and he said he was going to charge it when he got back! And it's almost dead! I mean, this could have been dropped here only seven minutes or so, trust me, I know how this phone works," she said, starting to hyperventilate.

"Ayla, calm down, they're right, he could be dead, don't get your hopes up," Zeva patted her back with her tail.

"Fine, I won't get my hopes up... Wait, what's this?" Ayla said, looking at the banner on the screen. It read: _Look up, don't scream, I love you. _

"Ayla, you shouldn't look up," Gregor said, he had used his echolocation, she really shouldn't look up.

"No, I can handle it," her tone was icey. Ayla flipped on a flashlight, and looked up, "Daddy?" she asked.

-O-

A skeleton hung there. It was her dad. But more horrifying, was what held him.

"What is it?" Jinx asked, looking up at the other skeleton which held Ayla's father.

"I don't believe it... it's a dragon," she whispered.

"Dragon? Like spits fire, and hoards gold ?" Gregor asked.

Ayla scowled, "That's what everyone thinks, but they can breath other things, and they do not hoard treasure," she stated, "I went through a faze of warship," she said.

"But, they are myths, pure myth!" Luxa said.

"Think... Again..." a voice whispered. They all dropped into defensive positions.

"Who are you?" Ayla asked into the darkness, clicking every now and then in a futile attempt to echo locate.

"Be calm... you will know soon enough..." Ayla felt goose bumps rising on her arms, the voice was harsh and wispy, like thousands of the voices of the dead were speaking at once, writhing about the cave, "All in good time... go you to the Queen! Go..." it faded, and disappeared.

Her father's skeleton dropped. But before it hit the ground, the wispy voice came, but in her head.

"_You have proven yourself... your courage will be rewarded..." _

A roar echoed through the cavern, booming off the walls, then before her eyes, the skeleton jerked and moved, blood vessels began threading through the bones, lungs and other organs grew, then were sealed in by flesh. Clothes appeared last, jeans, a ragged t-shirt, and a pair of leather boots.

Instead of being rested on the floor gently, he dropped a few feet, and lay on the stone, unconscious.

"Dad?" Ayla asked cautiously. No answer.

Slowly, she walked over to were her father lay. A man in his early forties lay there, he had a scraggy black beard, and brown hair, it was him!

Luxa approched, and knealt by him.

"He lives, but is injured," she said, pointing to a long gash across his chest, and a large bump on the back of his head.

_"No shit Sherlock,"_ she thought,"What do we do with him, I know he won't be able to come," as much as Ayla hated saying it...

The gray bat Jiff, or Peanut-butter as Ayla called him, spoke up;

"I could take him back to Regalia, I am not metioned in this quest, I am not needed," he said, talking for the first time.

"And what, I leave you pups for a day and you get into trouble?" a leering voice asked from the shadows. Ripred.

"I've heard rumors about dragons, but never seen one, impressive they are," he said, finding a bone to gnaw on, "I do think he needs a doctor, yes, take him to Regalia as fast as possible," he said. Jiff looked at him stupidly for a moment, "Well? Go!" Ripred barked, clearly not in the best of moods.

Jiff dipped his head, and with the help of Luxa, pushed Ayla's dad onto his back.

"My mother is not going to believe this..." Ayla muttered, half to herself as the bat flew off.

"Well, we need to decide where we need to go, on this ledge, you can go almost any direction, all we need is a destination," Ripred gnawed on the bone a little more.

"Well, that voice said something about the Queen, and so does the Prophecy," Ayla said, pulling out her copy. Ripred rolled his eyes a little.

"Yes, it does say go to the Queen-" Ripred was interrupted by a snap from Ayla.

"The Bones betray the Secret! The Bones were my dad, and the dragon! They betrayed the Secret!" she was excited for a least the ninety billionth time that day.

"I guess, if you look at it the right way, and three over, two under, we know who that is, but what about _the bodies will show_? And it says you'll fall..." Gregor was doubtful.

"But the fall might not be literal falling like, 'I did not fall, I was testing Gravity,' kind of fall, like, death fall. Huh, that would suck..." she said, catching Gregor's drift, "My question is, who is the Queen?"

"It's a volcano," came from Silkfur, "They refure to it as Queen because it's the biggest volcano in the Scorched Lands, it was aptly named so during a quest the Warrior, and good Queen Luxa took," he said. Ayla raised an eyebrow_ "Intellectual geek? No freaking way," _she thought

Silkfur sighed, "No, I am not an intellectual geek, whatever that is, I simply spent much time in a Library, trying to gather as much information before we left," he smirked at her expression.

"Silkfur, you didn't tell me you could smell thoughts too," Ripred prodded him with his tail.

**-O-**

** Bwahahahaha! Short chapter, my bad, and another twist to the plot! Sorry this is so short, I'm leaving for two days, and there is no internet where I'm going, *shudders* but it will give me plenty of time to write new chapters for you awesome readers! :) I will be back around the 22nd, my birthday :D Bye! R&R!**

** AAST- Abbess and Recorder of Loamtree Abbey~ d:~)**(~:p**


	11. A Bad Dream Filler!

** I'm back! I've been gone, for how long? A long time! Bah, shopping, shopping, and guess what? More shopping! I did enjoy it, but, I was shopping with my grandmother, and everyone knows how much they like wool sweaters, and turtle necks... :P Plus, I had to share most of the trip with my little cousins... ugh, not fun at all.**

** Special thanks to Assassin Author for wishing me a happy birthday! I did have a good time, thank you! :)**

**-O-**

"You're a scent seer?" Jinx tipped her head, she had heard of the Legendary Twitchtip, she had been a scent seer.

"Yes, I am, an advanced one, though my sister was much better than I,"

"Sister? Scent seer? Am I missing something?" Ayla cocked and eyebrow.

"Twitchtip was a rat, she could smell things very accurately, color, details, thoughts, secrets, that is what scent seers do, they smell. Silkfur here is her brother, a twin pair of seers, very rare, his sister managed to keep him hidden, until she was thrown into the Dead Lands," Ripred was bored with the conversation.

Ayla noticed Gregor seemed to look sad, she'd have to ask him about that later.

"Now, plan of action? I'm getting bored, and when I'm bored, I get tired, and when I get tired, I get hungry," the rat yawned.

"Right, we need to go to the Scorched Lands, joy," Gregor said, he looked like he was recalling a bad memory.

"That's north from here, I suggest, after we sleep and eat, we head out, this isn't the safest place to hide," Ripred looked pleased with his plan.

"You say that because you just want to stuff your face, you pig," Ayla teased.

"You're right! Hmm, let's feast over this discovery!" Ripred gnawed on the bone more.

"He is right though, the excitement of earlier was a bit much for me," Gregor yawned.

-O-

Once again, they all sat around the fire, sleeping, or eating as Ripred was. Gregor and Luxa lay against the rock wall, their arms around each other. Zeva and Silkfur were curled up together as well.

Ayla's heart ached. She wanted to go home, escape was out of the question though, she was honor bound to help these people, and she would make it, or die trying.

Her eyes drooped, the swaying of the fire lulled her into a sleep.

-O-

_She was at home, on the couch._

_ "Oh, it was just a dream! Thank the Lord," she sighed, looking at her laptop screen, several documents were sprawled across the desktop._

_ Ayla moved the mouse over to one, clicking two or three times to open it._

_ She had been writing a story for the Warriors books._

_ Instead of her document being pulled up, a little black screen came into view, it was a recording of some sort._

_ A censured voice spoke._

_ "Greetings Trickster, I assume you enjoyed watching the Underland fall. Of course, we managed to capture all your friends and family, just for the soul purpose of torturing and killing them! I hope you enjoy this little montage!"_

_ Her mother came onto the screen. Her arms and legs were tied by ropes, each rope was tied to a bat. The big ones._

_ A blow horn sounded, and the bats flew._

_ Ayla couldn't look away._

_ A ripping sound came from the laptop._

_ Ayla screamed._

_ Next she saw Zeva. _

_ She was pinned down by chains. A knife flew through the air, severing her head from her body, she made an unearthly shriek._

_ "Hahaha! We will kill the rest of your friends later, it's your turn!" the severed head laughed, floating through the screen._

_ Ayla threw the laptop, and jumped up and away from the couch, the head following, laughing insanely. She sprang down the hallway, breaking the door open, fleeing outside. She jumped and an odd slow motion happened, causing her to leap farther, as she whizzed by the side of the house she grabbed a sturdy pine stick and smiled. She had a chance now, her dirk was no were to be seen..._

_ She stuck two fingers in her mouth and gave a sharp piercing whistle._

_ Her dog Kathy sprang up from no were in particular, and wiggled her tail, which flattened when she saw the weird head thing._

_ She needed to call in the goats! Yes, they would help!_

_ "Goat, goat, goat!" Ayla yelled, in a poof of pink dust, a small herd of goats appeared, armed to their teeth._

_ "Well... This is bizarre," Ayla thought. Of course it was! It was a dream! Duh._

_ "Hahaha! Fight me pathetic human! Hahaha!" the head giggled, still floating behind her, "Really, fight me, I'm getting bored floating here, I have a schedule, a lot of people to torment, not much time to do so!" it said impatiently._

_ Ayla twirled her pine stick, almost wanting to start dancing, and attacked._

_ Thwak! The head howled in pain, falling on the ground. The buff goats and her dog went forward, uttering odd war cries and such, and killed the head. Then they turned on her._

_ The lead goat, a black and white one, bleated out an attack order, and the group of goats surged forward._

_ Once again, Ayla fled, terrified of her imagination. _

_ Then Spongebob was there, jogging next to her._

_ "Never be afraid of your, Imagination!" he said, waving his hand in an arch, forming a tiny rainbow._

_ "Spongebob," Ayla said dully._

_ "Yes?" Spongebob inched closer to her, his eyes three times larger than normal._

_ "Get out of my dream," she said, Spongebob visibly deflated._

_ "Fine, I will. Kill joy," he muttered, poofing out of her dream._

_ "Gah, I have a demented mind," she thought, picking up the pace._

_ Then the ground began to tremble, and crack, it all melted away into space, flat rock platforms floated about, on the middle one, two dragons, a purple one and a huge black one, battled it out._

_ "Really? Convexity? Not fair, you can't use video games against me!" she hissed unhappily._

_ "Ayyyla, bewaaaare!" a low voice called. She ignored it, just another random noise from the game she was trapped in._

_ She watched the dragons fight, she knew who the winner was, so it bored her. The rock she sat on melted away, she was falling._

_ Falling truly terrified her, she did a Panic Plunge at a theme park, and wet herself._

_ Down, down down, and guess what? Down!_

_ Below, a dragon skeleton waited, jaws wide open. Snap! Snap!_

_ "Aaaaaah!" Ayla screamed as she fell into the dragon's waiting maw._

_-O-_

"Holy sun of a biscuit eater!" she gasped, jerking from sleep with a yelp.

Zeva, cocked her head from her spot.

"Just a dream, just a really, demented dream, I'm fine. Holy crap that was scary, almost as creepy as the hippie van dream," she shuddered.

"You know what? When we get home, you need to get yourself checked, you've been talking and cursing in your sleep again," she said, curling her tail around Silkfur's.

Ayla pursed her lips, and curled back up on the ground, might as well keep dreaming.

-O-

_ "Now, where were we?" she asked the dragon skeleton._

_ Ayla picked up a tiny teacup, "Cheers?" the skeleton obliged, clinking it's own cup against Ayla's._

_-O-_

**Yep, another filler. Bwahahaha! Just a product of my sick demented mind, I mean come on, what kind of fic would this be without a bad dream? I might be writing a little Gluxa fluff one-shot soon, I need a creative break from this story, and maybe I'll get more reviews! I am most definitely on my regular schedule now, so worry you not, my readers, I'll be updating lots again. :)**


	12. Down The Rabbit Hole

** Hi! From this chapter out, there will be fight scenes galore! I know you guys love blood'n'guts! I do, so under the Queen they go, dun, dun, dun.**

**Please enjoy this chapter, and remember Assassin Author is awesome!**

**-O-**

They were flying, Ayla was unhappy. As always, she hated flying, she hated hights, she hated Panic Plunges. At least she was on Jinx so she could chat with her, but she was disturbed, something was not right, Ayla just couldnt place her finger on it...

"So, then Gregor bonded with Ares to save him from banishment, and it did work, after a while, Gregor came back and he argued with him Ares, and all that crap, several quests later, Ares was killed by the Bane in battle," Jinx said up to her in a whisper, fearing Gregor would hear, "I miss him," she purred sadly.

"Miss him? Was he your dad or something?" Ayla asked, creeping closer to Jinx's ear.

"No, far from it, he was my older brother. I remember when we were little, we would play in the Arena, and sometimes he would play pranks on me. Good times they were," Jinx sighed.

"Oh. I'm an only child, I enjoy it like that, well, Zeva's kinda like a sister, but not quite. Hey you know what?" Ayla asked, blowing a little in Jinx's ear.

"What?" Jinx said, shaking her head a little.

"We need to play a game, I'm bored," Ayla sighed, rolling onto her back.

"What kind of game?" Jinx asked, doing a small corkscrew, causing Ayla to free fall a little, she yelped before being caught.

"Telephone, that's what. And will you stop that? You know how much I hate falling!" Ayla exclaimed.

"Then will you stop blowing in my ear?" Jinx asked.

"I suppose. Anywho, if we get the others to play it'll be even better! C'mon, let's see who wants to play!" Ayla laughed as Jinx sped up.

-O-

Soon they were all playing, laughing and enjoying the time passer.

Zeva whispered in Ayla's ear.

Ayla leaned down to Jinx's ear "How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood? Pass it on!" Ayla smirked. Jinx flew over to Aurora and relayed the message, the golden bat whispered it to Luxa, Luxa leaned back and whispered the message to Gregor, Gregor looked confused, but he said the message out loud, "How much tool can a Dool dunk and fill for food?" he said. Ayla, Jinx, Zeva, and Aurora guffawed loudly.

"It was 'How much wood can a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood!" Ayla laughed, rapidly firing off the rhyme.

"Oh, man, who screwed that up?" Gregor asked.

"I have no clue!" Luxa said obviously.

"Oh tee hee, so funny," Gregor laughed, throwing his arms around her, lacing his fingers together. Luxa leaned back a little, tilting her head back to look into his eyes, she smiled and poked her tongue out a little.

_"That's just too cute," _Ayla thought, watching the two from the corner of her eye.

"So, how long until we reach the Queen?" Zeva asked, looking a little green around the gills.

"In a few days, perhaps three," Jinx said.

"Ugh, that long? Talk about car sick," the rat muttered, "I can't even throw up! Bah, this is going to suck," Zeva laid her head down in Jinx's thick fur.

-O-

And in three days fastforward, they were in the Scorched Lands.

Gregor looked across the volcanic rock field, gazing at the Queen in all her dormant glory.

"Okay, we're here, now what?" Gregor asked, looking at the volcano with furrowed eyebrows.

Ayla walked forward examining a pit before them, "Hey look, there's something in the bottom!" she said, hopping down into the hole.

Zeva looked uncertain, she let Gregor and Luxa go, first, then climbed down.

"These are some kind of animal bones, they were fossilized here awhile ago, but look at the condition! Perfect! What are they?" she asked, poking at one with her dirk blade.

"Mice, most definatly mice," Gregor said, frowning, another memory...

"Huh, giant mice too? Right, I'll be on the lookout for a twenty foot horse and a cat to go with it," Ayla muttered, tapping a dome shaped bone, there was a hollow thunk, "Hey! It's hollow!" she exclaimed, jamming her dirk blade under the bone, it shifted a little, then a little more, "Come on! Help me push this, I think I see a hole under it!" her head buzzed, stupid Rager sense thingy...

Zeva came over and begand pushing with her head, Gregor joined in along with Luxa.

Soon it was uncovered, a hole, big enough to fall into, sat gaping up at the questers.

Ayla leaned over it, clicking a little, white vapor seeped up from it, pulling on her, she stumbled and fell.

"Ayla!" Zeva gasped, reaching out with her tail to catch her, "Ayla!" she yelled.

Ayla screamed and was swallowed by the darkness. Zeva jumped after her, and went right down the hole, _'Off to Wonderland, and down the rabbit hole,'_ she thought.

Her ears picked up shouting and yelling from above her.

_Thump! _She landed on her paws.

"Ayla! Ayla, where are you?" she yelled into the darkness.

"I'm unner here!" came the muffled answer. Zeva backed up to reveal Ayla.

"Cheese and Rice rat! You could have squished me! Gah, and you say I'll be dumped..." she fumed, "Wait, where are we?"

_"Under the Queen... she will hold another for you... a secret..." _the wispy voice was back, and out loud.

"Under the Queen? But we we're a good half mile away from her!" Zeva said.

_"Hmm, tell that to the Currents..." _it said, _"Now, I must leave... much tired..." _it faded again.

"Well... now what?"

"Um, try not to die?" Zeva suggested.

"No shit,"

-O-

"So, it talked to you?" Gregor asked, they were in the hole, which turned out to be a tunnel.

"Yep, it was all gloom and doom," Ayla said, suppressing a yawn.

"What are we going to do next, I mean, you fell, the bodies showed," Silkfur said. Ripred and him had been flown down into the hole by the bats.

"Yeah, you have a point... well, we keep going! The Night of Light is soon, we need to get to the end of this before it, keep going!" Ayla said.

"I second her, we time is of the essence," Jinx said.

So they packed up, and began walking, everyone was tense, something wasn't right.

Twice Ayla pulled her dirk and stabbed a wall, or slapped out at something with the flat of the blade. Ripred and Gregor were equally jumpy.

They walked into a large cavern, a huge lake of crystalline water sat in the middle, the bones of rats, bats, mice, and Lord knows what, lay scattered about like so many sticks in a field.

"I don't like this," Ayla said, gripping the hilt of her dirk, turning her knuckles white.

"Huh, you're tellin' me," Zeva muttered.

The water in the center of the lake seemed to boil a little, a dark shape began swimming up. With a great spray of water, and an defining roar, a huge dragon shot out of the water, teeth bared, wings flared in a battle stance.

"Well, shit," Ayla said, readying herself for a good fight.

Zeva nodded.

**-O-**

**Okay, I lied. :( No fights this chap, next one, I promise! Once again, give Assassin Author a round of applause, and read her stories! You're too awesome! ;)**


	13. An Odd Bit of Remorse

** Woo hoo! Fight scene! I've been planning this one for weeks! And watching all possible fighting movies with fly fighting, and listing to fighting songs full of anger to help me be creative! And I drank like seven Diet Pepsi's, so I'm on a caffeine high! Yay! Now I'm listening to all hilarious Eminem songs! Just lose it as they say, go insane.**

**You all know to tell Assassin Author she's just to flipping awesome.**

**-O-**

The dragon reared, hissing and roaring in anger. Everyone dropped into fight stances.

"Ayla! How do we kill this thing?" Gregor shouted above the din.

"Depends on the dragon! Water dragons have soft underbellies, the armpits are the bread basket, between the talons are soft, and eyes!" she shouted back.

Luxa and Aurora were in the air, Gregor hitching a ride, Ripred and the other rats spread out, and Ayla leapt onto Jinx, soaring upward, her dirk ready, all was red, it was killing time.

The dragon was beautiful. It's tail was long and whiplike, a bone tail spade shaped into a spike. It was a dark navy blue, a light sky blue underbelly, the horns, shaped like jagged icicles were also sky blue, long sharp and pointing back a little as they came up. Between it's aqua colored talons was webbing. The neck was also long and whipy.

It snapped its tail out at Aurora, making a sharp crack. The bat nimbly dodged.

Ayla whispered into Jinx's ear, the bat gasped, "Overlander, are you sure?" she asked.

"Never am," she said back. Jinx twittered to Aurora, who was confused, but did what she needed. The golden bat dove sharply, circling the dragon's head. Luxa lashed out, catching it on the nose, gouging out a deep trough. The dragon roared, rearing up a little, black smoke pouring out of it's nose.

"Watch out! Shadow fire!" Ayla yelled, "Go Jinx! Go!" she said don to the bat. Jinx flew up and glided toward the dragon, then folded her wings and dropped, Ayla almost lost her lunch, then snapped them open flying down, paralell to the dragon's stomach. Ayla stood up and slashed at it's soft flesh. Jinx was going so fast from the dive that it was over in a mere two seconds.

The dragon made an unearthly shriek, Ayla could feel the warmth of blood washing over her, coating her in a crimson sheet.

"Ripred! Attack!" she shouted, wiping her eyes.

The Rager rat and the other two went in, leaping onto it's legs and climbing up. They reached the huge wings and began slashing at the delicate membranes. Aurora flew by its legs, Gregor and Luxa slashing at the tendons at the backs of its legs, crippling it, in slow motion it fell, giving a pathetic growl.

"Get outta the way!" Ayla yelled. Everyone cleared as the wings came down, creating a gust of wind.

Ayla landed and walked over to the dying animal, a pained look coming over her face.

She came over to it's head, the dragon gave a low moan. Ayla looked strait into it's golden slitted eye.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry it had to end like this," she whispered, a tear falling to the ground, Jinx shuffled forward.

"Ayla, are you alright?" she asked.

"No. We killed a young animal in its prime, all it was doing was defending its home, it never stood a chance, and we killed it like so many sheep on a farm. No, I'm not fine," she snuffled.

Ayla leaned down and looked it hard in the eyes, making several grunting and growling noises.

The dragon seemed to understand, and nod, then with a great roar, grew still for its eternal rest.

"Well, skin what you want, take the horns talons, I just want the tail blade and some skin," Ayla said, pulling out a few knifes from her belt, and set to work getting the tail blade.

Everyone did as she said, the ivory from the horns would give an economy boost, and would work for many tools.

Zeva came to help her with the tail blade, but was rejected with a wave of the hand. Ayla wanted to work alone right now, Zeva knew she was sitting vigil for the life she had taken.

"Something wrong, Silkfur?" Zeva asked, linking her tail with his.

"Yes, have you noticed there is no exit tunnel?" he said.

"You're right, weird, what are we going to do?" she asked. He shrugged.

-O-

Meanwhile, Ayla was cleaning the flesh off the end of the tail blade, once it was clean she carved it with a smaller knife, looking up at the dragon every now and then. When she was done, she had carved a tiny dragon, looking like the dead one on the floor, she found a small stone, then tied it in a cloth and tied it to the carving. Ayla walked to the edge of the lake and held the small dragon, twirling the stone, and let it go. The carving soared out over the lake, splashing out near the center. Then Ayla went back and began slicing off a section of the underbelly, she folded it and walked up to the massive head, she hacked off one of the horns and set it next to the skin.

She took samples of each claw, and what was left of the tail blade. Her project was to cure the hide, carving the horn into a bigger dragon and wrapping the skin on it, then using what was left from the horn to make two smaller ones and secure it to the skull, doing the same with the talons as well. The finishing piece would be the tail blade. This was how she would honor this beast who died before it really lived.

_"Well done, your compassion will be rewarded," _the wispy voice said in her head.

A grating sound came from one of the cave walls, the ceiling shook a little, showering the group with dust and rocks. When the dirt cleared they saw a tunnel had opened up in the side of the cave.

_"You may continue... at your own risk..." _the wispy voice said out loud.

"Wait, what can we call you?" Zeva asked.

_"A good question. You may call me, Abbess," _it said, fading out again.

Ayla remained silent as another voice came to her head, _"Thank you, Overlander, my soul is at rest," _it sounded young. She smiled and bowed her head.

-O-

Ayla was silent the rest of the day, no one tried to talk to her out of respect.

Who knew she payed respects to things she never knew?

-O-

**Done. Hmm, short chap. Oops, sorry, it's really late, so I'm tired, it took me a long time to write this. R&R**


	14. Fishing, Magma, Keys, and Games

** I totally agree with you Assassin, that was a really weird chapter! Well, I was sick, I was a little high on cold meds, and all that diet Pepsi made me write really weird, I mean I was reading it over this morning and I'm like, 'Oh, my God! I wrote this? WOW,' I thought about re-writing it but I'm a little crabby and I don't want to... see? I am crabby today, huh, default setting I suppose. :)**

**-O-**

Ayla was up and chattering in the morning, they had stayed in the Crystal Lake Cavern, as they had dubbed it, using the dragon to the best. They had refilled the water skins in the lake, and found it was full of fish and eels.

Ayla and Zeva were fishing at the moment, and really enjoying it too.

"Oh come on Zeva! He's out at the thirty foot mark!" Ayla yelled out, Zeva was swimming over to a huge eel Ayla had hooked.

"Thirty foot mark? There is no thirty foot mark!" she yelled back, a scowl plastered upon her face.

"Um, I have no response for that! Just go get the eel!" Ayla shouted. Zeva yelled something unintelligible, and swam out to where the eel sat hooked.

Zeva latched onto the eel, then all hell broke loose. The eel thrashed, squirmed, and even squalled, then dove, the rat still holding on.

"Shit! Shitshitshitshitshit! Yo, Sparky! I need some help over here!" Ayla yelled, the eel was starting to drag her out a little into deeper water.

Gregor and the other rats ran over, Ayla thrust the fishing pole into his arms.

"Here! Take this, don't let 'im get away!" she yelled, diving into the water much like a cow would.

But under the surface she could swim, moving her body like a dolphin, she swam out to where Zeva had disappeared, came up for air, and cut down through the water like a knife.

She could see Zeva and the eel down at the bottom, Zeva was on top of it, clawing and biting at it, she thought she saw her rat flip if off, but she was unsure.

Ayla yelled out, and surprisingly it was really loud! Zeva looked up, the expression on her face told Ayla three things: 'I am sooooo going to kill you,' 'You owe me one, big time,' and 'Hurry up dipshit! I'm running out of air!' Ayla reached into her belt to find a knife, her best one, the dagger. She swam out to the eel's head and slid the knife into the base of the neck. It thrashed a little, and lay still. Ayla did a fist pump, and grabbed onto the line, finding Zeva was caught up in it, she untangled her and dealt the line three sharp yanks, they were pulled in, along with the huge eel.

Soon, they both lay laughing on the shore.

"Haha, lets do it again!" Ayla said.

Zeva sobered up, "Hell no girl!" she said, "You do owe owe me though," she said.

"Gah, kill joy, c'mon, let's help with the calamari," she joked.

The two got on their feet, and walked down the small stretch off beach where Gregor and the others were chopping the eel into cubes and drying them over a fire.

"Hey Sparky, Cheese Wiz, Glossary, thanks for helping me out," Ayla said.

"Huh, what use would you be dead? Well, we could have eaten you two, but Ayla's got a little too much of a warmth pad," Silkfur said, gnawing on a cube of eel.

"Way, whoa, whoa, whoa, are you saying I'm fat?" Ayla asked, her eyes flashing.

Silkfur looked a little crestfallen, "No! No, I would never call you fat, you're just a little, big boned," there was a collection of ouches and oohs.

"You know, you're still calling me fat," Ayla's eyes were a little red now.

"No I'm not I'm just- you know what, I am going to stop here, I am just digging myself into a bigger hole," he said, going back to his gnawing.

"Smart rat. Now, once we're done here we leave and continue the on the Golden Brick Road, till we reach the Wizard, right?" Ayla asked. Luxa cocked an eyebrow.

"What? You think we should keep going and ignore the creepy voice? I for one want to find out who and or what it is," she said, making a fist and slamming it into her open palm.

"Uh, no, I don't want to know what it is, I just want to finish this quest and get this over with, get Boots home, and all that," Gregor said, nodding to where his little sister sat, playing a game with Temp.

"What about everyone else? Wanna go find the voice?" she asked. "No" came her answer.

"Fine," she said, leaning against Zeva.

-O-

They continued on their fabulous journey, going through the tunnel. This time, the bats could walk.

"Ew, it smell bad, Gregor," Boots said, a little smelly water dripping down the back of her shirt.

"I know," Gregor said back. The tunnel smelled much like the one in the gnawer's land, the water was even the same color, "Hey, Ripred, are we near the gnawer's lands?" Gregor asked, scowling when water plopped onto his nose.

"How would I know?" Ripred answered.

"How long until we get out of this thing?" Ayla's voice rang through the tunnel.

No one answered.

Ayla grumbled about something, and they continued walking.

-O-

Hours later, Ayla say the end of the tunnel.

"Look! The end!" she said, upping her step.

They wound up shying back from the end.

A huge lake stood before them, but instead of water, it was magma. The magma below bubbled and popped, moving about like waves on an ocean.

"We are beneath the Queen, this must be her magma chamber," Silkfur said, his nose twitching every now and then.

"So, it's like a giant zit? Well, then again all volcanoes are, like Mount Saint Hellenes!" Ayla said.

"How do we get around it?" Zeva asked, shooting a questioning look to Ayla.

"Fly. We sent two across at a time," Luxa answered.

Boots walked over to Gregor and looked over the edge, her brother grabbed the back of her shirt.

"Hot. Very, hot. Lava!" Boots squeaked.

"Yes, now come away from the edge, Boots, go play with Temp," Gregor told her, Boots obliged.

"My question is where is the other side? Ayla asked.

"There," Jinx said, pointing with her snout to a small lip on the other side of the chamber.

"Coolio. Who's going first?" Ayla looked over the edge.

"You, Zeva, Gregor and I" Luxa said.

"Gee, thanks for letting us stay with the pup, Luxa" Ripred rolled his eyes.

"No, Boots is coming with me," Gregor said.

"Well, now that that's settled, lets mount up!" Ayla said loudly, getting on Jinx, Zeva following.

Gregor took Boots and, letting Luxa get on first, mounted.

The bats soared over the magma, the massive amounts of heat waves letting them glide. They landed, Gregor kept tight hold of Boots, and Ayla walked over to the other side of the lip, looking at the wall.

"Uh, where is the tunnel?" she asked.

Zeva shrugged, looking over the wall too, "Hey, take a look at that," Zeva said, gazing at the floor of the lip.

A shape was carved out of the ground, forming what looked like a small sword, a dirk, a very curvy dirk.

"Ooh, lets see what happens if..." Ayla said, sliding her dirk into the hole, there was a click. A very ominous click.

Something happened, the magma started to rise at a frightening rate, also on the door a slot appeared.

"Ayla!" Zeva gasped.

"What? I didn't do it!" she said.

"No, piddle fart, take your dirk, and put the blade in that slot!" she said.

"Oh, akay!" she said stupidly. Ayla ducked and pulled her dirk from the ground, and put the blade into the crack, it fit perfectly. She twisted it like a key.

The magma stopped rising just as the others made it.

"Um, now what?" Ayla asked.

The wall rumbled, and a section pulled up.

"Guess that's what," Ayla pulled her dirk out and re-sheathed it.

-O-

Step. Step. Step. Whack! Cringe. Step. Step. Step. Trip. Curse. Gregor was once again going through the motions. The ceiling was low, and had the tendency to crack your skull.

Ayla was arguing over something stupid with Ripred; "See? That's how you cheated!" she said.

"Oh, Trickster, you wound me!" Ripred said.

"Yeah, well I'm gonna do a lot more..." Gregor tuned her out, and looked over to see how the bats were doing. Aurora was on Temp, and Zeva and Silkfur were carrying Jinx. He turned his head, Luxa was brooding, her eyes narrow, a scowl painted over her face.

"You okay Lux?" Gregor asked, shuffling closer to her.

"No," she said.

"Why?"

"Because,"

"What, are you claustrophobic?" he joked. Luxa glared at him, "Oh, you are, okay, I'll drop it," he said.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?" he asked.

"Worrying" she answered, moving a little closer for warmth.

-O-

"So you see? The Queen held a secret! And her secret to give was that my dirk is a key!" Ayla said, they were in another little pocket, the room was big enough for them to stand.

"I guess, it's just really weird..." Jinx said

Ayla's stomach growled, "Sorry, I'm hungry. Can we eat?" she asked. Before anyone answered she began digging in the food pack, pulling out a hunk of beef jerky, and began gnawing on it.

"I agree," Ripred joined her, and found an eel cube. Silkfur took two, one for him and for Zeva. Gregor took enough for him, Luxa, and Boots. Temp just took a little as did the bats.

There they sat, eating jerky, enjoying the silence.

"Hey, Zeva?" Ayla asked.

"What?"

"Wanna play Paper, Rock, Scissors?" she asked.

Zeva's eyes narrowed competitively, "Bring it," the two sat opposite from each other and held out their fists.

"You're gonna lose," Ayla said, "You always do,"

"Huh, let's see," the shook their fists, "Paper, rock, scissors, shoot!" they said, Ayla had paper, Zeva had rock, "Paper, rock, scissors, shoot!" Ayla had paper, Zeva had scissors, she smirked, "Paper, rock, scissors, shoot!" Ayla had paper again, Zeva with rock.

"Haha! I beat you!" she laughed, Zeva muttered a few curses and grabbed a small rock from the floor. Ayla ducked as the rock flew through the air, "You missed!" she laughed, then got a tail in the back of her head.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of me not missing," Zeva sneered.

"Fair enough. Rematch?" Zeva held her fist ready.

-O-

Later Ayla got everyone to play Hangman. She used a rock to write on the side of the wall, so far, they had a head, eyes, and an arm.

"Um, an A?" Jinx said, Ayla wrote an A on one of the lines, they all sighed with relief.

They continued until Zeva guessed; "How much wood could a wood chuck chuck?" she asked, Ayla smiled and wrote it out.

"Hooray, you won!" Boots cried out.

"Yes, yes, hooray, can we go to sleep? My legs are getting tired," Ripred slouched in his place.

"Fine, kill joy, go and sleep, do whatever rats do in their free time," Ayla rolled her eyes, and found a place to lay down, it _was _late.

-O-

There was a scratching noise. A very irritating scratching noise.

"Zeva, can you quit it?" Ayla mumbled in her sleep.

"I'm not doing anything," she hissed back.

"Then who is?" Ayla asked. She clicked, and saw what, "Ahhh! We're under attack! Fight back!" she shouted, pulling her dirk. Everyone leapt up at the mention of attack.

A group of small dragons were tearing at the food pack, trying to get in.

Ayla saw red again, and charged, hacking and slicing. The tiny dragons squealed and began attacking. Using echolocation, she tracked them, Ayla ducked as a spew of fire came from the maw of a larger one, she sliced it's head off.

Mere minutes passed when they defeated the dragons, Ayla was wounded in several places, a jagged bite mark on her shoulder continuously bled, a cut above her left eye blinded her with blood, one had gotten a claw into her back, pulling it from shoulder to hip, the rest of the group was no better, everyone was alive though.

Luxa treated her shoulder, and other wounds before moving on to the rest.

"Well, that was fun," she said, "I call first watch," she said, no one objected.

-O-

**Wow, long chapter! It was over 2000 words long, so I think I did good today! I hope you liked it, the part about the secret was a little hard to write, but what would be the secret? I have a bland imagination, so it's hard. :) I will update tomorrow!**


	15. AN, Sorry, school sucks

A/N: I am so sorry to do this to you guys! This is a fake chapter, I know, and I'm sorry for tormenting you like so. I will not be able to update as constantly as I usually do, I am going back to school on the seventh or sixth, and that last chapter sucked all I had, I am still sick! I wont be here to type tomorrow because of registration, meeting the teachers, picking out the ones who will hate you no matter what, getting all my classes in order, and all that B.S, I know, lame excuse, but my mother is feirce when it comes to school, and let me tell you, I will not do any typing if I do not go, she'll tan my tar muscle with a wood spoon so fast I wont be able to sit for weeks... ***Shudderes***

I humbly appoligise for this little fart in my schedule, and I promise I will update this week.

With care,

Lady Cosmic Brownie d:~)

P.S, Yes! I did change my name, I am still your favorite Abbess Aruba Skytalon though!


	16. The Stone Castle, Sikfur's View

** *WARNING, NEARING THE END OF THE STORY!***

** Joy to the world! This is a real chapter! Oh no! I only have five to six days of freedom, huh, this really sucks. T-T**

** Oh, by the way, I really messed up and forgot to tell you guys what Silkfur looks like! He is actually black, I know, stupid color but it came to me one day, he has really green eyes, like forest green, really forest green, there, that's Glossary for ya!**

** This is written in Silkfur's point of view.**

-O-

"So, Silkfur," Ayla asked, leaning causally against the cave wall, arms crossed.

"Yes?" I asked , looking up from a small eel cube.

"You really can smell thought?" Ayla prodded a little.

"Yes, I can," I sighed, this was another one of the Overlander's games, she loved messing with everyone.

"Um, okay, what am I thinking now?" she asked.

"Oh my god, I wonder if he really can read my thoughts?" I said, giving the air another sniff, "Oh, shit! He can! There, that answer your questions?" I asked.

"Yeah, it does, thanks, Glossary," she said, using her nickname for me.

I smiled, I really couldn't help but grow attached to her, she was a happy soul wrapped in snark and sarcasm with a core of fair play and honesty. I wondered over to Zeva, she also had a bit of Overlander humor, some of her jokes... I shook his head and lay down next to her.

"So, was Ayla prodding you for random information?" the black and white rat asked.

"Yes, unfortunately," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Eh, don't let her get to you, she means well, for goodness sakes, I lived with her for five years!" she said.

I smiled. Zeva nuzzled into my side a little, and I curled my tail around hers, just perfect.

-O-

We were walking again, there was no mud or stinking water in this tunnel though, the voice or 'Abbess' as it called itself, had not come out to say hello yet, I took that as a good sign. Up ahead, Ayla was acting like she was having a seizure, Zeva said she was dancing to a song from their home.

"What kind of song is this?" I asked.

"Um, it's called, Just Lose It, she loves that song, it's really funny though," I nodded, finding it amusing to watch her dance, every now and then she would jump up and down a little, truly amusing. After a few minutes she just started humming softly, it was an odd little tune, I sniffed, she was _singing in her head_ odd, I sniffed to hear the words.

_Poppin' bottles in the ice,_

_ Like a blizzard, when we drink we do it right, gettin' slizzered,_

I stopped, _'Humans' _I thought. She changed tune again, something about bringing someone to life.

"Zeva, does she often sing in her head?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, she does, she has every song on her media player memorized, so then she can listen to them wherever she goes," she said. My forehead creased a little. It had to be a human thing, or and Overlander thing.

-O-

"We are no longer under the Queen," I announced, there was a collective sigh from the group.

"Good, do we keep going?" Ayla asked.

"Well, we're not sure, the Prophecy mentions only you, Zeva, Gregor, Luxa, and Jinx to go, of course Aurora as well," I spoke, I had memorized the Prophecy perfectly, and dissected it every way possible.

"Oh," she said, shuffling her feet, "Lemme guess, I'm leader of this jolly band?" she asked.

"That's the sum, pup, you lead and don't let them get killed too soon," Ripred said, I rolled my eyes a little, I wanted to go with my love, but I was only brought as a guide, nothing more, my heart sagged a little.

"But, when do we split up?" she was a little impatient.

"The only other place mentioned, the Stone Castle," I said, "It is legend, said to be ruled by a strange spirit they call Abbess, they say it is where souls go after death, both good and evil alike,"

"Abbess? The voice? Really? Huh, but, then what's going on? We need to go there and what?" Ayla crossed her arms, locked her knees, and had her thinking look plastered on her face, I called this the thinking posture.

"Something is very wrong, dragons being that wrong, the leader is the Abbess, she is waiting for the Night of Light, when it comes, they say she becomes all powerful, she sends out minions to burn the Underland, killing all in their path," I told her.

"But, why has she been helping us?" I sighed at her again.

"Because, it is not the Abbess contacting us, it is the soul of the new Abbess, she must inhabit the throne in the Stone Castle during the Night of Light, or all the souls will be released, crumbling the Underland to a dust. The Abbess, the one we are fighting, she wants this to happen, it will destroy all, first, kill all Underlanders for causing their extinction, second, after the Underland falls on itself, fly to surface and cause mass carnage and rule the Earth. Simple as that,"

"What? She want world domination? Why? I mean, if she guards the souls from escaping, then why is she wanting them to be let out?" Ayla creased her forehead in confusion.

"Because, she is corrupt by her power, she had been Abbess for millions of years, guarding the Underland, but one day the thought niggled into her head that she could take the Underland, then the Overland, this was after the gnawers made her race extinct, she grew angry and, what's the word?" I asked, lacking a good word Ayla would understand.

"Hitlerized? That's what I call it when someone grows too power hungry, like Hitler," she said.

"Yes, she grew Hitlerized, this was just after the last Night of Light, now nothing stands in her way for power, except you, you hold the key, you can open the doors," I said, not wanting to tell her all I knew, she would not be ready yet...

"Oh, well tar and all things bad. We need to find the Stone Castle,"

"I have heard stories of it, they say it's near the Lava River, we need to find it," Luxa said.

"That was in a fairy tale! How could it be true?" Jinx asked.

"Well, it's our only lead, I say we find it!" Ayla said. Nods came from everyone, she was starting to become our leader.

-O-

I stood by the fabled Lava River, it was real! As a pup, I had been fascinated by the tales spun about it, my favorite was if you make a wish and toss a pebble in, your wish will come true. To my dismay, there were none to throw.

"And we follow it downstream, right?" Ayla asked me, prodding at my side a little.

"Yes, downstream," I said.

_"So good to know you are coming, hurry the time is near, Abbess grows strong," _it was new Abbess talking.

"Well, you heard the voice, we need to go!" Ayla said, we packed up and began trekking downstream.

I sniffed here and there, keeping watch for foes. Deep breath, nothing, good. Wait, deep breath again, oh no.

"Dragons! A lot of them!" I hissed, Ayla stopped dead in her tracks, Luxa strayed near Aurora, everyone tense, "They are coming to us! Ready for battle!" I said.

"How many, Silkfur?" Ayla asked, dropping my nickname.

"Twoscore, that would be forty, they are small, except for two," I said.

"Shit," Ayla said, muttering a few choice curses under her breath.

And low and behold, forty small dragons appeared, they were very colorful, some were blue, others green or black, they were a rainbow of colors, two larger ones up front were scary enough, one was a dark purple, with dirty yellow wings, and talons, a crest ran up it's back and to it's forehead, also dirt yellow, the wings were large, outlined with orange. A spiral triangle tailblade sat on the end of it's muscular tail. Two horns came up out of it's scull, making a lightning pattern as they jutted up, also dirty yellow. The dragon next to it was the same size, still a little spooky looking.

It had a more of a narrow head, ending in a beakish snout. It was black, it's underbelly and wing membrane were a dark crimson, two curved ivory horns came up out of it's head, four others framing its face, on the first bend of each wing was a silver scythe, as well was the tailblade, an odd design scrawled across its forehead in silver, in all the pair looked deadly.

"Greetings, we have been waiting for your arrival, my name is Letis, and this is my mate, Arinissa,"

-O-

"You've been waiting for us?" Ayla asked, her body tensed a little. I crouched, unsure of what was going on.

"Yes," the other spoke, it was female, "We have been waiting, we were sent by the Abbess's spirit to help you," she said.

"Indeed, she fears the tyrant on the throne will annihilate all, she sent us to help," Letis said.

"We are just warriors, we will fight the army of the Tyrant," Arinissa said, giving a puff of purple smoke.

"How many does her army number?" I asked.

"Sevenscore and four," the female answered.

"What? But that's, one thousand and four! They'll slaughter you!" Ayla said looking dismayed.

"Nay, Trickster, we are her special force trained in the ancient ways of stealth and all elements," Letis said. The male dragon opened his mouth and let a stream of ice flow out of his maw, followed by a bullet of rock, a bolt of lightning, and last of all purple fire. "My elements, Ice, Earth, Electricity, and Fury Fire," he said bowing his head a little. Arinissa did the same display with different elements, shadowy fire, a funnel of wind, loud scream, making Ayla see red and want to curl into a ball, and an orb of ominous green sludge.

"Shadow, Wind, Fear, and Poison," she said, "We are all trained in at least four elements, this will even out the odds, the Tyrant's dragons are weak, they only breath fire, the most advanced with shadow fire, we will win,"

"We must leave, Fly you high Trickster, Fly you high!" Letis said, flapping his great wings and lifting into the air.

"Burn like the flame, good dragons, Burn like the flame!" Ayla had no idea where that came from, but it sounded right.

"Come on! The Stone Castle and the Tyrant are near!" she said, using the name the dragons had used.

I followed her, waiting, looking over my shoulder, and sniffing the air.

-O-

Soon we were at the foot of the Stone Castle. It was beautiful! High stone walls soared above our heads. These were just the protective walls, the building was massive, made of stone as well. Two bell towers stood side by side, holding their huge bronze cast bells within. Two large gates barred our way, but Ayla had her plan ready I found.

"Well, this is going to be hard, but lessee, ah ha!" she said, looking at a map one of the dragons gave her, "The Tyrant's chamber is right here, so if we take this passage over here on the right, using the key of course, we'll run smack dab in the middle of her living room!" she said, pointing to all the places on the map, "Follow my lead, and we'll be in in no time!" she said, fear clutched at my heart, they were leaving for the mission.

Ayla mounted Jinx, Zeva made to get on, but scampered back to me, nuzzling my snout.

"I love you," she whispered, then ran back to Ayla. The bats lifted off.

"Run like the River, Zeva! Run like the River!" I shouted, a small tear forming in the corner of my eye, "I love you as well," I whispered to myself.

"Run like the River, Silkfur! Run like the River!" her voice was faint.

Now it was all up to Ayla.

-O-

**Oh snap! I plan to end this story in the next chapter! There will be a surprising epilogue though! Be grateful, I wrote this one in two hours, and now I have to leave, my mom has the Spoon of Doom! {:O**


	17. The Final Conflict

** It's the last chapter! I am so thankful to all you great reviewers! You really made this story possible! A great special thanks, round of applause, and whatnot to everyone's favorite author Assassin Author! Thank you sooooo much for every review you gave out, this story would not be possible without your encouragements! And thank you to Beach Gurl! You're last review made my day! You as well as Assassin made this chapter possible! I thank all of you kind readers who have born with me this whole story, I am forever thankful!**

** Please, enjoy! And make sure to read both Assassin and Beach Gurl's stories!**

**-O-**

This was it, they were in the castle. They were traveling through a long corridor in the very rafters in the castle, a secret entrance and or exit. The bats scrunched down, making their way. Ayla was leading, Gregor and Luxa behind her, Zeva at her side. They crept quietly, not making a sound.

Ayla pulled out her map, looking at it with a trained eye. She waved to her right and went down another passage.

A rattling noise alerted her of something bad. The floor gave out. They fell to the floor below, right in the middle of a dragon guard watch. She pulled her dirk, Zeva crouched, they bats flew.

The first one came at Ayla, blundering forward, teeth bared. She slashed, the dragon blocked with a horn, and lashed out, spinning in a quick circle, trying to break her ankles with it's tail spade. Ayla jumped and darted forward, striking with her blade, the dragon's head fell to the ground.

"Ayla!" Zeva's shout came. Ayla turned to see a dragon rearing it's head back, smoke pouring out. She cartwheeled out of the way and sprang up, doing a triple flip, her blade catching a wing, it fell with a thump to the ground, the dragon squealed in pain and reared, Ayla backed off swiftly and ran strait at it, at the last second when the dragon began to charge she slid under it on her back, her dagger catching it's soft underbelly.

"Three point arch!" she roared out above the sounds of battle, she saw a flash of red and black, Arinissa! The female dragon and her mate were decked out in silver battle armor, slashing and kicking with a fury, Letis let out a long stream of Fury Fire, and Arinissa rose onto her hind feet, spinning and using her wind to form a cyclone.

Ayla now stood at the point of the arch, her vision red with bloodlust. She began spinning, holding her dirk in one hand, and her dagger in the other. Dragons fell before her fury, their limbs and horns scattering about like twigs and sticks.

"Run you Trickster! We will stall them, we are expendable, you are not!" Letis roared before bulling over another guard dragon.

"You heard the big dragon! Move!" Ayla shouted, retreating up into the passage above their heads, and ran, the others in tow. She felt bad for the bats, the passage was a little too small for them, and they really had to squeeze to run on their claws, using front wings as legs. A scrabbling sound came from behind, they were being followed.

"Go, go, go!" she shouted, taking out her map, Ayla looked at it, the halls were burned into her brain for a short time, she swerved a sharp left and kept going.

Right, left, left, right, left, right, right, down! The sounds of presuit had stopped, they were being quiet again. Ayla was excited to say the least, her heart pounded, threatening to come out of her chest, her Rager scences were on high alert.

"There!" she hissed, pointing to a trapdoor in the passage floor. She leaned down and opened it, making not a single noise, and slipped into the hole, the others following.

Ayla gasped. The room was beautiful. Made completely out of crystals, most were dark purple, and thorny looking, others were pink, blue, and green, crystals of all colors there were, sprouting out of the very floor made out of polished amethyst. Heavy silk curtains hung about randomly. In the center of the huge room was a quartz throne, sitting on it was a large dragon.

It was very elegant, long and slinky. It was a dark regal purple, it's underbelly the same color of the floor, as well as the wing membrane. It's head, very much held high at the moment, had large strait horns going back at an angle, then curved sharply back at the tip. Several other horns looking like those on her head created a small halo around her skull. Black spines ran from her tail to her shoulders, sitting diagonal. The spade on it's tail looked like a wing feather from a bird, one side fat and blunt, the other slim and sharp. The dragon pulled it's eyelids up, reveling dazzling green irises.

"You arrive," she said, her voice much scarier than the Abbess's, "I am, Abbess, though you might choose to call me Tyrant. So Trickster, you arrive with your little party of friends, how touching. Though only you, the gnawer, and the bat may fight me, yes, I've heard the prophecy, but I only want three interference, pathetic little wretch," she spat, rising up and off her throne, "I said back you little smudges, back!" she hissed, Gregor and Luxa backed down.

"Oh, it is so sad it must end this way," the dragon said in a low cruel laugh.

"Bring it, lizard!"

Tyrant charged, wings flared tail swishing. Ayla ran at her, surprising Tyrant when she slid underneath her, catching the inside of the right back leg. Tyrant roared in pain and whirled, letting loose a streak of Shadow Fire. Ayla couldn't get out of the way, she crouched covering her head with her hands, waiting. It never came. She looked up, a blue barrier had formed around her.

"What? Impossible!" Tyrant roared.

_"It it not... you cannot use elements against one without them...I will make sure of that..." _

"Abbess?" Ayla asked.

"Abbess!" Tyrant shrieked. She whipped her head to face Ayla, "You are going to pay for that, worm!" she roared.

"Oh, really, oops, I forgot my credit card, will cash work?" she asked, running and jumping. Jinx caught her.

"Erag! Two can play that game!" Tyrant snarled, beating her massive wings. Ayla made a hand signal to Zeva. Tyrant came closer, spitting fury and malice.

"GO!" Ayla shouted as loud as her lungs would permit. Jinx dove, Tyrant following closely. Jinx flew low and fast, her belly fur brushing the floor. Ayla held two fingers to her mouth, letting a whistle blast through the air when they came close to Zeva. As they swept by, the rat leapt onto the dragon, catching her wing and pulling her off balance and causing her to crash to the floor. Ayla jumped from Jinx and plummeted down right down on top of Tyrant, yelling out, her dirk blade driving deep into the dragons ribs. The roar rang through the room, shaking Ayla to her core.

Tyrant flipped over, spilling Ayla to the ground. Zeva swept underneath the giant, catching Ayla and pulling her out.

Tyrant stood, stunned. Ayla caught her breath, and noticed her blade was glowing.

"What the hell...?" she said.

_'You will not kill Tyrant without help... I give you the elements Fire, Shadow, Earth, and Light...win the good fight my friend... win it for the Underland!' _Abbess's voice rang in her head.

Flames danced on her dirk blade, licking hungrily about.

"Hahaha! You'll never win!" Tyrant laughed, "The moon is near!" she giggled.

_'Shadow,'_ Ayla thought, she was instantly cloaked, and began running, before she reached Tyrant she thought, _'Shit, she's huge! Oh,uh, Light!'_ she was uncloaked, her blade was bright yellow.

"How d'you like them apples!" she shouted, hacking off a wing. Tyrant whirled, slapping Ayla with her tail blade. Ayla screamed, and skidded across the floor, her dirk sliding just out of reach as Tyrant loomed over her.

"I win!" she roared, her tail coming down and pinning Ayla to the floor using the broad side of her blade to hold her neck.

"Never!" Ayla croaked. Tyrant pushed a little harder. The room dimmed, Ayla was losing consciousness...

The room brightened, the moon!

"Ah hahaha! I win! I am all powerful! I win!" she cackled. Something slid into Ayla's grasp, her dirk!

"Ayla! Use it now!" she hardly heard Jinx. Whiping her blade forward, she chopped off the offending tail, and jumped up, sinking her dirk into Tyrant's chest.

The dragon made an odd sound, and tried to attack, her claws flailing wildly, catching Ayla's leg, ripping it open, she made not a sound.

"LIGHT!" she roared, consentrating hard. The blade grew the brightest yellow, Tyrant screamed, "You see, the downside to being dark and evil is that light will ultimately destroy you!" whispered coldly.

"You are dying as well, do not gloat!" Tyrant hissed.

"I may be, but I will remain, it was written in the stars," she said, jumping off.

A beam of moonlight came to rest on the two. Ayla gulped sadly.

"Ayla! Ayla!" Zeva yelled, running over to her friend, Jinx hard on her heals.

"You did it!" she smiled.

_"But at a hard price... she is dying, as am I... my spirit will not be able to be Abbess..." _Abbess's voice rang.

"What? Oh, Ayla!" Zeva said in a chocked sob, "I am proud of you,"

"Thank you, Zeva," Ayla whispered, the beam growing stronger. Jinx did something surprising, she extended her left claw to Ayla, the right one to Zeva.

_Ayla the human I bond to you_

_ Our life and death are one, we two,_

_ In dark in flame, in war in strife, _

_ I save you as I save my life._

Ayla repeated.

_Jinx the flier I bond to you_

_ Our lif and death are one, we two,_

_ In dark in flame, in war in strife,_

_ I save you as I save my life._

Zeva understood,

_Jinx the flier I bond to you,_

_ Our life and death are one, we two,_

_ In dark in flame, in war in strife,_

_ I save you as I save my life._

_ Zeva the gnawer I bond to you,_

_ Our life and death are one we two,_

_ In dark in flame, in war in strife,_

_ I save you as I save my life._

Zeva reached out to grab Ayla's hand in her paw.

_Ayla the human I bond to you,_

_ Our life and death are one, we two,_

_ In dark in flame, in war in strife,_

_ I save you as I save my life._

_ Zeva the rat I bond to you,_

_ Our life and death are one, we two,_

_ In dark in flame, in war in strife,_

_ I save you as I save my life._

A gasp came from Luxa, "A threeway bonding, I have never seen such a thing!" she whispered, stepping forward.

_"Halt... do not interupt them... you will be killed by the light if you try..." _Abbess's voice sounded weak.

As they finished the bonding, Ayla's dirk rose high in the air above them, glowing white, the moonlight increased, causing Luxa and Gregor to look away.

A roar rang out, causing the silent castle to ring, the light was seeping everywhere.

"Let these long silent halls roar, let these long dark halls see the light, the fire will not spread, these wings will never spread!" the chant came over the roar.

Then it was quiet. Ayla, Zeva, and Jinx were gone, in their place were stone statues of them grasping each other's hands, Ayla's statues eyes glowed pink, Zeva's green, Jinx's brown.

Ayla's dirk fell from the air, burrying itself in the crystal floor/

It was over. The Tyrant and the Trickster were dead.

-O-

**End.**


	18. Epilogue

_**Epilogue**_

_-O-_

_ Ayla stood over a dusty book, and shoved herself away. She had become Abbess! It was fun, she got to mess with the spirits locked in a portal in her 'office' as she called it, and she had her bonds with her to help._

_ "Yo, Jinx! Have you seen Gregor's book? I want to read it over again!" she said loudly._

_ "Uh, last I saw the thing, it was in the 'G' section, Lay!" her bat's voice came from deep inside the library. That was another job as Abbess, it was her job to take care of the books of history, protecting them from falling into evil hands and or paws._

_ Ayla strode about the big room, and found the 'G' section, she selected a green book from the shelf and popped it open, she smiled._

_ Gregor and Luxa were wed, with a child on the way. It had been six years since the Prophecy of Moon, two spent training, and now they would watch over history until the next Night of Light. The dragons were once again extinct, and Ayla had turned down the offer to be one when she took the job._

_ "Oh, Gregor, I hope you two have a happy future, I hope you do. May the spirits look after you two, may they look after us all..." she whispered._

_-O-_

**End Epilogue. Thank you all for reading! And watch out for any other Underland stories from me! **


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